Jacob Jackson and the Sins of the Fathers
by Project Phoenix Agent 003
Summary: Jacob is the son of a legendary hero and the new child of the prophecy. At ten, he must team up with cabinmate Alex di Angelo to go on a quest to save his parents, protect camp, and stop The Pit from freeing the evil god Urunos. If he can't, then we die.
1. Intro

_**003: When I first started writing Prison of the Gods, I never knew it would turn into this. This is…this is…unreal. I just wanted to say thanks to everybody who's ever reviewed me. You guys truly make my day. Anyway, here it is, book one of the Rise of Urunos trilogy!**_

_**45x: Who ya talkin to?**_

_**003: Go away!**_

_If you're just tuning in, Percy and Annabeth Jacoson fell in battle keeping the now clear sighted mortals safe. Their friends (who had a kid), Thalia and Nico, went on a quest to resurrect them, so Annabeth could give birth to the child of the prophecy: Jacob L. Jackson. Jacob has grown up in a world where the mortal and mythical worlds coexist due to the Mist's destruction. Despite the mostly peacful life of this bold new world, there is still danger. Monsters are reforming, and a growing band of evil half-bloods known as The Pit are on a mission to bring the fallen god Urunos, father of Kronos, out of hiding so that they can use his power to destroy Olympus. And now, it's beginning to look like only Jacob and his friend scan stop them._

Percy's POV

From the day Jacob was born, Annabeth and I hoped against hope he wasn't the child of the prophecy. But he learned to talk so young, he was so mature for his age. That was the first sign. We hoped he was just a smart kid, even as we prepared for monster attacks.

We didn't want him to think of himself as the hero, so when he was three we gave him and Alex both a basic mind wipe. Growing up, the kids knew Olympus and all of that was real, but so did every child in America. But what they didn't know anymore was that their parents were demigods. We hid the knowledge from them, to protect them. We should've known we only prolonged the inevitable.

At preschool, it was obvious Jacob was the smartest kid there. But as the other kids learned to read, Jacob still couldn't. It took a while to find out why. He had dyslexia.

First grade, he barely even paid attention in class. Didn't sit still, got distracted. Diagnosed with ADHD.

We hoped it was a coincidence. Even as Annabeth designed his sword, and Tyson got to work on it. My son was doomed to my own fate.

But there was still hope. Jacob didn't have a single monster attack. Until he was ten…

Jacob's POV

You can't pick your family. I'm okay with that. My family rocks. My dad's a former ocean diver, he discovered a vein of gold and now he works part time with Uncle Grover. My mom is a crazy awesome inventor, building stuff for ordinary mortals and the demigod community.

I do however wish I could've picked my parents' family. You know, made us _normal_. But no. Instead, I'm the son of two of the greatest demigods to ever live, destined to save the world. Of course, I didn't know that at first.

I knew my parents were demigods (something they kept secret from most people these dayds), but growing up there was no clear sign I was a half-blood. True I had ADHD and dyslexia, and I had an eidetic memory, and I had learned to swim at a young age, etc. But no monsters came for me. I only got kicked out of one school (Hey, not my fault the bus driver drove into the ocean. At least that's what I told the school board when they expelled me.)I always figured I was normal. My parents told me to keep my hopes up, but not to be surprised if something tried to kill me.

Look, my parents didn't choose to be half-bloods. I didn't ask to be a half-blood. But for some reason, the Fates decided the Jacksons were fun to mess with. If you think you might be one, pray your wrong. Being a half-blood is dangerous. The cooler you are, the more likely you are to be mutilated. If you're reading this because you're just some ordinary mortal kid interested in the fantastic world he/she coexists with, read on. I envy you for being able to live without attracting a bull man.

But if you feeling something working inside, if you recognize yourself in these pages, stop reading, find the nearest Satyr Securities office, and get an escort to Camp Half-Blood pronto. Because once you know you're a half-blood, it's only a matter of time before _they _know too. And trust me, you don't want to be unprotected when _they _find out.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

Alex's POV

I was hiding behind a car while a rabid baby dragon tore up the street looking for me. I tried to keep my breathing under control. Mom and Dad had told me things like this had happened to demigods, but now they were happening to me. I took off my necklace and spun it. My parents had told me over and over to do this in case of a monster attack, but they never told me _why_. Like magic, my necklace turned into a black sword.

In the distance, I heard a Satyr Securities car coming my way. But it wouldn't get here in time. I was on my own, with nothing but a sword I'd never seen before to help me. I slowed my breathing and leapt from my hiding spot. The dragon lunged, nearly taking my head off.

With speed and agility I didn't even know I had, I dodged the dragon's attack and countered with one of my own. I stabbed, the blade sliding into a chink in the scaly armor by sheer luck.

The blade drank in the dragon's essence until there was nothing left but dust. The Satyr Securities car pulled up, and two people got out. I recognized one of them as a satyr. I looked at my sword, but in my hands was just my necklace.

"What happened?" the satyr asked, looking around.

"There…there was some kind of…thing. It attacked me while I was walking down the street. Then somehow my necklace turned into a sword and then it changed back and the monster turned to dust and–"

The satyr put a finger to my lips. "Easy now. Stay calm. Can you tell me both of your parents' names?"

I nodded. "My parents are Thalia and Nico di Angelo."

The satyr looked to his partner. "This just got complicated."

They asked me to get in the car with them. Under normal circumstances, that would be weird, but after everything that happened I'd realized something. I was a half-blood. One of my parents wasn't really my parent. And right now my best bet for survival was to get in a car with a goat man and a dude who was probably a demigod just like me.

I got in the car, and we drove off. In the car, the demigod took off his helmet, giving me a look at his face.

"Uncle Percy?" I asked in shock. "You're a…" (He's not really my uncle, but I call him that anyway.)

"Don't tell Jacob," Uncle Percy told me with a smile.

I nodded meekly. "Uncle Percy?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you know who my godly parent is?" I asked him, hoping he could tell me.

"You don't have a godly parent Alex," he said plainly.

"Then how am I a half-blood?" I was confused now.

"Well," Uncle Percy explained, "if two demigods have a child, the child will be a half-blood as well. Doesn't work if only one of the parents is a demigod though."

"My mom and dad…" I breathed, coming to terms with what my uncle was telling me.

"Are demigods," Uncle Percy confirmed. "The daughter of Zeus and the son of Hades."

I leaned back in my seat and let it all soak in. "Wow. My parents are demigods, you're a demigod. Is Aunt Annabeth…?"

Uncle Percy was hesitant to answer. "Yes."

But that would make Jacob a demigod. Did he know? Why hadn't my parents told me about all this? My brain was racked with questions, but I didn't have time to ask any of them, because we arrived at the Satyr Securities office.

"They'll get you an escort to camp soon enough," Uncle Percy promised.

"But why can't you just take me?" I asked.

"I'm not an escort, I'm on monster detail. If there's a monster on the loose, I get the job of taking it down," Uncle Percy explained as he and his partner climbed back into the car.

"Okay," I muttered. "Bye!"

"Miss di Angelo?" a voice called out.

I turned at the sound of my name. I saw none other than Uncle Grover (Again, not my real uncle.) without pants. Because instead of ordinary legs, he had shaggy goat legs. Great, just great. Is no one I know normal? I bet my best friend Kelly is a demigod or a demon or some other mythical creature starting with a D.

"It happened huh?" Grover asked as he drove us to camp.

"If by 'it' you mean a monster tried to have me for lunch, then yes, it happened," I said.

"Sorry Alex," Uncle Grover apologized. "We were hoping they wouldn't sense you for a couple more years. The Demigod Cabin still isn't ready yet."

"Demigod Cabin?" I asked, confused.

"You don't have a godly parent, you're just the child of two demigods," Grover reminded me. "At Camp Half-Blood, your cabin depends on your parent."

"Oh. Okay," I said, hoping I sounded like I understood what he meant. "So I get to share a cabin with all the other children of demigods?"

"Yes and no," Grover the goat said. "If there is another child of two demigods, they will be put in the Demigod Cabin, but at the moment you're the only one."

"What about Jacob?" I asked. I hadn't seen my cousin since I was six, but I stillwas worried about him.

"He doesn't know he's a half-blood. He does know his parents are half-bloods though. As long as he doesn't know what he is, there's a good chance the monsters won't know for a while either," Uncle Grover explained.

"Watch out!" I screamed.

It was too late. We crashed right into a large snake tail.

_**003: That's the first chapter. What do you guys think? All I know is I've got things planned for this story. Just as soon as 1136 gets back with my pizza. *45x and 1136 walk in***_

_**1136: Here's your pizza.**_

_**003: This is an empty box.**_

_**45x: We got hungry. Hey are you doing another story? I'll do the questions! What's Alex up against now? What problems await Jacob? And how is our old friend Evan doing? Am I secretly plotting to steal 003's story, his sidekick, his girlfriend, and his life before I kill him violently?**_

_**003: Say what?**_

_**45x: Tune in next time to find out!**_


	2. Welcome Home Alex

_**003: I don't trust him.**_

_**1136: Kay. I don't trust you. What's so evil about 45x? **_

_**003: You don't know the first thing about evil! I've seen evil. It comes with being a REAL hero. And author. Which reminds me…**_

The car rolled end over end, finally skidding–upside down–to a halt on the side of the road. My head was spinning and I could taste blood in my mouth. Uncle Grover was slumped against the steering wheel, making the horn go off nonstop.

I unbuckled my seat belt and crawled over to unbuckled Grover's. I tried opening one of the doors, but they had been jammed in the crash. Summoning my strength, I kicked out one of the windows and dragged my satyr uncle out of the car. That's when the car exploded in a green ball of flame.

I was blown back by the blast along with Grover, smacking into a rock. I managed to stand up, and wouldn't you know it? A twisted scary snake woman, with two snake tails instead of legs, was slithering toward me and my unconscious goat man uncle.

I admit, at first the only thing going through my head was: _I'mgonnadieI'mgonnadieI'mgonnadieI'mgonnadie! _But then I remembered my necklace. I spun my necklace, turning into its black sword form. The snake woman dodged my first strike, but I dodged hers. I jumped back, putting as much distance between me and her as possible. Grover woke up.

"Look out!" he shouted.

The snake lady hissed and hurled her spear. My instincts took over, and I batted the spear out of the air before hurling my sword forward. As the sword flew forward, a black lightning bolt streaked down from the sky, connecting with the sword just as the blade hit Miss Snake.

The snake woman turned to dust, and I staggered over to pick up my necklace from the ground. I didn't put it back on, just gripped it in my hands as Grover picked me up and carried me up the hill. At the top of the hill was a huge pine tree that somehow comforted me. From the top of the hill, I looked out over a valley with cabins, a big central house, a climbing wall, a lake, a circular arena, and all kinds of other stuff. That was the last thing I saw before fainting.

I woke up to Uncle Grover spoon feeding me some sort of pudding. When he saw that I had woken up, he smiled and put the pudding down.

"Glad to see you're still with us Sleeping Beauty," Grover greeted. "Gotta say, I haven't screwed up like that in a while. In fact, this reminds me a lot of the day Percy got to Camp Half-Blood. You'd think the Fates would save something like this for Jacob."

"Where am I?" I asked.

"Camp Half-Blood," Grover told me. "The Big House to be exact."

"You mean that big four story house I saw before I passed out?" I asked. "Whoever made this camp really had no imagination."

"Agreed. On the bright side, while you were unconscious, the Demigod Cabin was finished."

"How long was I out exactly?" I asked.

"Few days," Grover said. "Nothing much."

"Nothing much…" I sighed. "Grover, do you think I could see my par–"

"Alex!" a familiar voice cried out.

"Mom!" I shouted, hugging her.

"Alex honey, are you okay?" Thalia asked.

"Mom! I'm fine, just a little shook up," I assured her. "Where's Dad?"

"Right here!" my dad said and gave me a suffocating hug.

"Dad, dad. Can't breathe," I gasped.

He let go with a smile. "You had us pretty worried Alex. How do you feel?"

"Pretty good, but…" I began. "WHY DIDN"T YOU TELL ME I WAS A DEMIGOD?"

Mom and Dad looked at each other, then at me. "It was for your own protection. If you knew what you were, then so would the monsters. We could've sent you to camp, but you were just too young. You're a very, very powerful half-blood," my mom explained.

"Plus, we really didn't need you tearing up the house with weapons practice," my dad added.

"Nico!" my mom scolded. "He's kidding honey. Aren't you?"

My dad gulped. "Oh yes, definitely kidding."

"So…I'm a demigod," I sighed, taking it in.

"Yup," my dad confirmed. "And here, you're safe. Here you'll train to use your powers and become a hero."

"Me? A hero?" I asked. "Are you sure?"

My mom laughed. "Trust me Alex, you'll be surprised with the things you'll do. Summers are great here, and before you know it you'll be kicking everybody's butt."

That's how I ended up at Camp Half-Blood. I got my own cabin, the Demigod cabin. There were a lot of empty cabins, and the biggest cabins only had five kids. Camper ages ranged anywhere from seven to eighteen, so I wasn't that young in comparison.

This kid from the Zeus cabin kept flirting with me, that is until I held my sword to his throat. Things were pretty sweet at camp. Hero training was awesome, and the only real problem was Mr. D, who for some reason kept calling me "Allen" and "Alison" no matter how many times I told him my name was Alex.

One thing that occupied my thoughts during my first days of camp was Jacob Jackson, and if he would be okay. I'd almost gotten killed by one snake lady. And I heard Grover and Chiron talking about how whole legions of monsters could come after Jacob. But as the weeks passed, no news came of Jacob's death, and he wasn't chased across the property line by a monster, so eventually he slipped my mind.

I became a year-rounder, with Mom and Dad visiting me a lot. Camp was simple. No quests were given, no emergencies plagued the planet. Everything was right with the world. Or so I thought.

One night, while I was sleeping, I had the weirdest dream.

_A big dude with one eye in the middle of his forehead worked hard over blazing forges. Carefully, he poured two separate streams of liquid metal into a mold. One of the streams was a silver color, while the other was a bronzish gold. As the metals cooled, the big guy held up the blade he had forged. It was large and flat, but still razor sharp. It looked like a scythe blade, but it was missing the shaft part._

_Half the blade was a metal I recognized as Celestial bronze, the metal other campers' weapons were made of. The other half though looked like ordinary steel._

"_Is that blade ready yet Cyclopes?" a rude voice barked._

"_Where is my brother?" the Cyclopes demanded. "I will do nothing for you till I see him."_

"_Very well. Bring him in!" the voice ordered._

_Two figures dressed in grey battle armor dragged in a limp figure. I saw messy black hair with a gray streak in it and a tattered white shirt. When the Cyclopes saw him, he broke down._

"_Brother!" he cried, and shoved the two armored escorts aside._

"_Tyson…" the man they'd dragged in groaned. "You…you alright buddy?"_

"_I is okay. Are you?" Tyson the Cyclopes asked._

"_I've been through worse," the man assured. _

_He looked up at Tyson, and I caught sea green eyes. He looked so familiar. Brother of a Cyclopes. Messy black hair. Sea green eyes. I knew who that was. But at the moment, I couldn't remember. _

"_I get us out of here," Tyson said._

"_Don't worry man, we'll get out. But don't risk yourself. We're _all _getting out of here. No sacrifices."_

_Tyson looked upset, but he nodded. "Okay."_

I woke up. Tyson. I'd heard that name before. Why couldn't I remember? I shook it off. It had to be a nightmare. That's all it was.

_**003: I'm telling you he's lying! The Agent X program succeeded with the 22**__**nd**__** attempt, not the 45**__**th**__**.**_

_**1136: Whatever. Just go do your story while 45x gets this bunny costume off me. You know, the one YOU made me wear!**_

_**003: And how is he getting it off? With a chainsaw?**_

_**1136: Yes.**_

_**003: Ugh. What's wrong with Tyson and (the other person)? What's Jacob up to? Is The Pit closer to their evil goal? Will 1136 survive 45x, the evil lying bastard who– Anyway, tune in next time to find out!**_


	3. Old Timers Vs The Pit

_**003: So how exactly did you lose your arm?**_

_**1136:…chainsaw accident.**_

_**003: And who was holding the chainsaw?**_

_**1136: 45x was…**_

_**003: And what have we learned?**_

_**1136: That he's evil.**_

_**003: Woo! I was right! Sorry about the arm by the way. But I was right! I'm so happy I could post a chapter. So I will. **_

_Two years later…_

Percy's POV

"Here they come," Nico warned.

Chris spun his revolvers. Clarisse gripped her electric spear. Travis drew his twin swords. Katie drew her sword. Nico swung his sword side to side. Thalia tapped her bracelet and extended her spear. Annabeth drew her knife and readied her mirror shield. I tapped the stopwatch button on my watch and uncapped Riptide.

I should probably explain what's about to happen. A few days ago, we tracked The Pit down to their secret hideout. The one thing we hadn't anticipated was the sheer strength of numbers The Pit would possess. Most of them were just kids, but there were still a lot of teens and young adults.

They were a powerful force, and we had been forced into a retreat. They'd been chasing us across the country, slowly dwindling in numbers as more and more returned to base. There were about ten left, all of them teenagers or young adults.

We'd run out of places to run. We were cornered in the Grand Canyon in the middle of the night. This was where we were going to make our final stand. Do or die.

"Everybody ready?" I asked.

My friends and wife nodded. I turned to face the people who wanted us dead. It was hard to see them all, but I could tell this was going to be hard fight. They charged, and we met them halfway.

Annabeth judo-threw one enemy and stabbed down, taking him out of the action. Thalia and Clarisse were back to back, fighting off the enemy with their electric spears. Thalia knocked one idiot aside with her shield and fired off a few bolts of lightning at another. Chris dodged a sword thrown at his head and emptied his guns at his opponent.

Surrounded by the shadows of the Grand Canyon at night, Nico was unstoppable. One second, he was dueling against five opponents who couldn't see him, the next second he was behind me slicing a thrown spear out of the air. Then he was on top of another member of The Pit, hilt slamming them in the face before jumping off them and kicking another in the chest.

I ended up backed against the canyon wall by some kid, maybe sixteen, with a staff that crackled with electricity. It was dark, so the light from his staff was pretty much all I was using to see. In the brilliant blue light of his staff, the kid looked outright menacing.

When he pointed it at me, a lightning bolt flew down to it like it was a lightning rod before arcing towards me. I batted the bolt aside, but I knew this kid's parentage. A son of Zeus. The Pit really had collected every demigod they could get their filthy hands on.

I sliced his staff in half and kicked him in the chest, knocking him to the ground. When he tried to stand up, he found Riptide pointed at his throat. He looked up at me right before I smacked him hard with the flat of my sword, knocking him unconscious.

That's when I heard it. The sound of rushing water, headed this way. Through the darkness, I could just make out a wall of water head for us, looking black in the night light. I looked around at every body still fighting. They would all drown. I raised my hands up, trying to halt the water.

I could fell the water's weight, straining against me. Not just the water. It was as if some other force was fighting me for control. I struggled to stop the water, but it still came, albeit much slower. I was starting to sweat. Breathing became harder.

"Nico!" I shouted, talking only making it harder to keep the water back. "Get them out of here!"

"On it!"

Nico pulled everybody on our side into a quick shadow travel. I looked back towards the water, which had started to rise up in as if pressure was building against my wall.

I should've had Nico get me out too. My will broke, and the water swept forward, sweeping The Pit away. Surprisingly, I found it hard to breathe under water, like I was breathing very thin air. A figure swam forward through the gloom.

"Who are you?" I demanded.

"Hey bro. I'm Neroh," the figure greeted, before I felt currents attack me.

I held off the aquatic assault as best as I could, but this guy was powerful. Too powerful to be a demigod even. I was facing a godly son of Poseidon, and I was getting my butt kicked.

I shot out of the water like a rocket, riding a jet stream of water. My half-brother followed the suit. I willed a blast of water to shoot at him with more pressure than a fire hose, but it arced harmlessly around him and flew back towards me. I tried to do the same trick, but I only blocked some of the water. Most of it hit me in the chest and knocked me higher into the air.

I landed on top of the Grand Canyon's edge. My evil half-brother landed soon after, but on his feet.

"Not so tough now are you?" he asked before kicking me in the stomach. I rolled across the rock. "What's so special about you huh? Why did Poseidon pick you over me?"

"You could go ask him," I suggested, hoping he'd leave.

In response a torrent of water hit me before freezing solid. I struggled to break the ice, but it was thick.

He drew his sword, lowering it to my throat. I had one chance. Just before he slit my throat, I melted the ice and shot it forward, knocking him off of me. I'd lost Riptide in the flood, but it was back in my pocket, and I drew it.

Neroh smiled and raised his own sword. We charged each other, and our swords met with a powerful _clang_. As we fought, I saw he was a decent fighter, but still not as good as me. I swung for his head, then his legs, then feigned going for his ribs before twisting and slicing his ear off.

He yelled in pain and dropped his sword. I swung, giving him a cut across the face. I didn't notice his sword turn to water and shoot towards me. The water wrapped around my neck and tightened until it was choking me before freezing solid. I tugged on the ice collar, finally breaking it. But when I looked, Neroh was gone.

I was wondering where the others were when a lightning bolt shot _up_ into the sky. Thalia. After a quick walk, I found the others. Annabeth greeted me first, hugging me tightly and asking if I was okay.

"I'm fine, just a little shaken up is all," I assured her.

"What happened?" Travis asked.

"Godly son of Poseidon," I explained. "Neroh. I don't think he likes me very much."

"This isn't good," Annabeth said. "If The Pit has a god on their side, there's no telling how many more they have."

"Let's hope it's just the one," Katie said, using a torn off piece of her shirt to bandage a sword cut on her arm. "Last thing we need is more god fighting."

"Agreed," I said. I've fought gods. It's never fun.

"So I think we can safely say The Pit has an army, and we've got thirty-something campers back at camp," Travis grumbled as he sheathed his swords.

"Thirty-three," Thalia corrected. "Alex became a year-rounder after an _empousa _almost killed her."

That news unsettled me. Alex had been found by the monsters, and now she couldn't leave camp because too many would try to kill her. How much longer until they found Jacob? I looked over at Annabeth and could tell she was just as worried. Jacob was smart. He had a satyr watching him, like Grover had watched me. He was at boarding school, far away from the apartment that reeked of demigod. He'd be fine. Right?

_**003: To answer your question Percy, no he won't. How was this chapter? I was hoping for a longer fight scene between the group and The Pit, but somehow it turned into a Percy vs Neroh chapter. Anyway, reviews power my turbo laser, which I'm going to use to blast 45x to smithereens, so REVIEW! Oops almost forgot: If Percy is there, then what was up with that dream of Tyson? Are we ever going to see the character this story gets its name after? And we all know how clueless Percy was about how Annabeth felt, but Jacob is smarter than that, right? Tune in next time to find out! **_


	4. Jacob Vs Beef Boy

_**003: And now for THE chapter. That one we've all been waiting for. Introducing, the most powerful ten year old in existence…Jacob! While you guys read this chapter, 1136 and I will go say "hi" to 45x. Where's 002?**_

_**1136: On a date with 45x.**_

_**003: …..Well this just turned into a hostage situation.**_

Jacob's POV

I woke up one morning, thinking it was just going to be another regular day at my regular boarding school. My roommate, Han, was still snoring and making weird sounds that sounded kinda like a goat.

I guess I should mention this. Han is the school's satyr. He keeps an eye out for monster and demigods who might be in the school. And for some reason, he has to attend all the classes too. I think the reason has something to do with monsters being less likely to notice the satyr if they blend in with the students. It's a weird system.

I threw my pillow at him, both to wake him up and because I felt like it. He jerked around in his sleep for a sec, but resettled again. I sighed, walked over to his bed, and yanked him out of bed, sending him crashing to the floor.

"Wha?" he cried. "I'm up!"

"Good, class starts in an hour," I told him as I pulled a fresh grey t-shirt on.

"An hour? Really? You woke me up and hour before class starts?" Han hates getting up early. That's why I wake him up at six thirty every chance I get.

"Whatever," I shrugged off his complaints. "Just change out of those stupid butterfly pajamas."

Han looked indignantly down at his pj's. "I'll have you know this is very comfortable. And it's better than sleeping in your underwear like you do."

"How is it better?" I asked as I pulled some pants on.

"Well for one thing I don't flash everybody who walks by our room," Han said as he pulled on his fake feet.

"One time!" I cried. "One time that happened!"

"Yeah, and the girl had a freakin nervous breakdown," Han reminded me.

"I told her I was sorry," I said, looping my belt through my pants.

Our morning went on like that as we got dressed, brushed our teeth, ate breakfast, etc. Before we knew it we were off to our first torture session– I mean class: English. No wait, I did mean torture session.

I have ADHD, which makes it kinda hard to sit in a classroom, so none of my classes are very fun. But because of my dyslexia, English is even more torturous. So is math, but at least when _that's _done orally I'm a pro. To be honest I hate English. A lot.

It was library day, so lucky for me we didn't have to do any _actual _work today. As we were outside walking to the library, Han sniffed the air suspiciously.

"Jacob man, you forget to put on deodorant or something?" he asked, but he sounded kinda scared.

I took a cautious test sniff of my pits. "I'm good. Why?"

He glanced over his shoulder. "Nothing I guess."

I was on edge from that moment on, and the hairs on the back of my neck refused to go down. I was aware of everything all around me. Every voice, every movement, and once we got into quiet the library I swear I heard a fly land on a wall at the far side of the room.

My hyper alertness is probably what saved me from, well this:

I felt it before I heard it. A rumbling, tiny tremors in the ground. Then the rumbling became audible. A millisecond after I heard it, the wall on the far right exploded from the impact of something.

RAWWR!

"RUN!" Han shouted. "Everybody run!"

People listened.

Teachers and students made mad dashes for the exits, trying to get away from the bull man that had just crashed through the wall. Not bull man. What was he called? The Minotaur. He thrashed around for a bit, knocking over bookshelves and smashing chairs, before setting his sights on me. My blood froze. He'd come here for me.

My instincts took over and I jumped onto the nearest tables to avoid his first charge. He ended up headbutting Han, who went flying across the library and crashing into a shelf, knocking it over and crushing a girl who'd been trying to get to the exit.

That's when I went into hero mode, a mode I didn't know I had. I jumped up and over the Minotaur as he charged again, and he smashed the table I'd been standing on. While he was distracted, I ran over to the shelf that was crushing the girl. With as much strength as my ten year old body had, I lifted. Surprisingly, I managed to lift the table and let the girl crawl out.

"Thanks," she told me as she kissed my cheek.

"You should run," I told her.

She looked at the Minotaur, who was turning towards me again. As he charged , we split up. She dove to the left, me to the right. The Minotaur ended up crashing into another bookshelf, turning it to splinters.

I sprinted off, leading the Minotaur away. He followed at full speed, and he was gaining fast. I jumped onto a book shelf and pulled down hard. The shelf came down, slamming down on the Minotaur. I jumped off and stared at the beast that looked trapped under the shelf.

"Hey Han, you might wanna call Satyr Securities before this thing gets ou–"

At that second, the Minotaur hefted the huge shelf off of him and stood up. I gulped and kept running. I slid underneath a table as I ran, deciding it offered more cover than jumping over the table.

The Minotaur didn't stop, just smashed the table out of his way. I stopped and rolled in between the Minotaur's legs. As I rolled, I caught an unfortunate look up his loin cloth. I am now mentally scarred for life, and the after life.

The Minotaur punched the ground where I was a second ago, but I was too fast for him. Before he had pulled his fist back out of the ground, I was sprinting off in the other direction.

"Jacob!" Han shouted.

He took out a silver click pen with a blue grip. He clicked it and tossed it at me. Mid-air, it transformed into a sword. The sword looked different from most swords. It was Celestial bronze sure, but the tip was a razor sharp blue crystal. The same kind of stone was embedded at the base of the blade.

His throw was off though. So I jumped up and towards a wall. From there I kicked off the wall and sailed through the air towards the sword. I caught it, performed a somersault, and landed on the Minotaur's chest. I stabbed the sword in, and the beats roared before slowly eroding to dust.

I landed on my feet, exhausted, as if my sudden burst of metahuman power had drained me. I staggered before collapsing to the floor and dropping the sword.

_So that's it?_

What the? Now I was hearing voices in my head. I must've gotten hit on the head during that fight or something.

_No, you're not crazy. At least I don't think you are._

Okay, now I know I didn't imagine that. Where was that voice coming from?

_Down here Smart One._

I looked down, but all I saw was the sword.

_Yup, that's it._

Talking sword?

_Yes. Is that so hard to comprehend? I mean really, you've got a brain, use it! You just killed a half-man, half-bull, all-ugly monster. Why can't a sword talk?_

I had to admit, the sword had a point.

_The name's Miz kid, not "the sword". Well, if you won't be needing me I'll be going then._

The sword transformed back into a pen. Awesome. I picked it up gingerly and walked over to Han to give it back to him.

"Keep it," he said. "It's yours anyway. Your parents wanted you to have it when and if you were ready. I was just holding on to it until then."

"Thanks," I said, pocketing the pen. I just hoped I wouldn't lose something that cool.

"You can't lose the pen. It's enchanted to return to you. The longer it's yours, the stronger the connection and the quicker the return," Han explained.

"Convenient," I said.

"C'mon man, we gotta get you to Camp Half-Blood," Han said.

"What why?" I asked. "So the Minotaur showed up, that's not undeniable proof I'm a half-blood."

Han spun around and threw something at me. A knife. A cut appeared on my arm, and I cried out in pain.

"Yeah, but that is," Han said, pulling his knife out of the wall.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?" I demanded, clutching the bleeding wound.

"That was a Celestial bronze knife. If you were normal, I would've gone straight through you like it wasn't there. But it cut you, so you're either a demigod, or a god."

"I'm not a god," I said with total certainty.

"I know," Han said, patting my shoulder.

He walked off, and I reluctantly followed. The girl I'd saved earlierwaved to me as I left

"I'm Rae by the way!" she shouted as I walked.

"Jacob!" I called back.

Before I really knew where we were, a Satyr Securities car pulled up. A satyr got out (Duh.), and he looked very familiar.

"Grover?" I asked.

Grover is my dad's best friend, and a satyr like Han, only Grover is a Cloven Elder and a lord of the Wild. Which reminds me, _never _litter in front of him. Don't even litter with earshot of him. He will _kill _you. Well maybe not kill, more like kick your lights out, but it _hurts_. Don't ask how I know it's a painful story.

"Oh Jacob please tell me some monster killed a close friend of yours and that's why Han is here comforting you," Grover begged.

"Fraid not," Han answered for me.

"Oh gods," Grover said. "Annabeth is gonna go _nuts_. Did you at least give him the pen?"

"He's surprisingly good with it," Han said.

"Alright. We need to get him to camp before something else shows up."

"Wait, camp? You mean Camp Half-Blood? _The _Camp Half-Blood the place for demigods?" I asked, because I'd always wanted to go there. Mom and Dad talked all about the cool stuff that went on in there.

"The one and only," Han told me. "Welcome to the world of Olympus. Why waste your time living comfortably as a mortal when you could have arrows whizzing through your hair and the promise of a short life?"

"Han!" Grover bleated.

"You know it's true!" Han shot back.

They went back and forth like that for the entire drive to camp. If you've never been forced to listen to satyrs argue, I envy you greatly.

_**1136: WHAT ARE THOSE THINGS?**_

_**003: Zombies. I knew it was him.**_

_**1136: HIM WHO? Dammit stop rambling and help me kill these things!**_

_**003: 45x is really the most evil power in the universe. The time traveling bastard…THE MUFFIN MAN!**_

_**1136: WTF? What will it be like when Jacob and Alex reunite? How does Jacob stack up against the other campers? How does Alex? Who the f*** is the Muffin Man? Tune in next time to find out!**_

_**003: Oh and if your not too busy could you please come down and kill a few zombies for us?**_


	5. Training

_**1136: We're surrounded by zombies! We're gonna die.**_

_**003: No look, our reinforcements are here!**_

_**1136: Reinforcements?**_

_**003: I asked my reviewers if they would mind killing zombies for us. Looks like they don't.**_

_**1136: No kidding.**_

Camp Half-Blood was just as cool as I thought it would be. The coolest part was the cabins. They were the most architecturally unique buildings I'd ever seen (That would be my mom's genes talking.), and the coolest one was made of white marble with symbols of all the gods decorating the trim. But there was also an extra symbol added: A black lightning bolt against a bow and cluster of arrows, which was also black.

"Would you look at that," Han said with a smile. "The boy found his cabin all by himself. "

I looked at the cabin. "I'm staying _there_?"

"Along with an old friend of yours," Han added.

I scrunched my eyebrows in confusion. "Old friend? What are you talking ab–"

"Make yourself at home!" Han shouted and trotted off.

"What? Wait!" But he was already gone.

I sighed and tried to open the door to the cabin. It didn't budge. I jiggled the handle around, but still got nowhere. Finally, I'd decided I'd had enough and kicked the door in. I took one step inside before I found a black sword pointed at my throat.

I looked at the one holding the sword, a girl about twelve years old. She wore black skinny jeans and a _silver _Cam Half-Blood t-shirt, which was weirdly cool because most camp tees were orange. Her dark hair was tied back in a messy pony tail, with a few strands falling in her face.

The girl looked at me for a second. "Jacob?"

I made the connection. "Alex?"

She lowered her sword and we hugged.

"Oh gods I haven't seen you in forever!" Alex said happily as we pulled apart. "How have you been? No scratch that, what chased you across the border."

"Minotaur," I answered.

"Minotaur?" Alex asked in surprise. "_The _Minotaur? You killed that ugly thing?"

"With one stab," I boasted.

Alex gave me a high five. Seeing her was awesome. I hadn't seen her since I was four, and seeing her here, at camp, well it was pretty cool. Wait a minute. I'm sharing a cabin with Alexandria (She hates when people use her real name.) di Angelo for the whole summer?

Alex and I talked a little longer. Apparently, Alex's parents were demigods too. But unlike my parents, they hadn't told her. Still, like me, she was clueless that _she _was a demigod until something tried to kill her. When I asked her about the extra symbol on the cabin, she smiled.

"That would be the symbol of _my _parentage," she explained. "The son of Hades and a daughter of Zeus, who was at one point a huntress."

"Cool," I said. "Do I get to add my own symbol as too?"

Alex smirked before dragging me towards the camp forges. "I'd be insulted if you didn't. C'mon, we can make it in the forge."

"You forged the symbol yourself?" I asked.

Alex did her "meh" thing she does when she admits she can't do something. It admits defeat, but still preserves her "awesomeness". At least, that's her explanation for it.

"I had some help," Alex admitted. "Jacob, meet Brian, son of Hephaestus."

A kid who'd been hammering white hot metal looked up. He was tall and buff, probably from working in the forges all day. He had tan skin and copper hair, and the look on his face would make most monsters cry for Enchinda. Hell, it made me throw up a bit in my mouth.

"Brian is the youngest son of Hephaestus," Alex explained.

"And the most talented," Brian added. "Catch!"

He tossed me a metal staff about two feet long. It expanded and grew into a hammer, one balanced for throwing like a javelin.

"My signature weapon," Brian explained with a smile. I set the hammer down. "So what can I do for you?"

"New guy needs to add his piece of the cabin," Alex said, gesturing toward me.

"Nice. You have a design in mind?" Brian asked.

I didn't. But a quick run through of thoughts in my head, and I came up with something.

"Actually yeah…"

Three hours later, I hammered the plate sized symbol of my family onto the side of the cabin with the other symbols. A sea green owl, wings spread, talons forward. Alex nodded in approval.

"Not bad," she said. "But you should probably get to training. Otherwise Roxanne will kill you Friday night."

"What's Friday night?" I asked.

Alex grinned evilly. "Capture the Flag."

"Capture the Flag," I repeated. "What next?"

"Well, first we need to get to the sword fighting arena. Our cabin got a challenge from the Zeus Cabin," Alex said.

"Awesome," I said.

The sword fighting arena was pretty decent size. Sitting off to the side to watch the fight was a bunch of good looking kids who didn't look very athletic. Elsewhere in the arena, two guys with weapons were waiting for us. One was Alex's age, but the other was way older.

The younger one was wearing baggy pants, a black long sleeve shirt with a lightning bolt on the front, and he wielded a sword and shield. His hair was long, but not in his face-long.

The older one wore an orange Camp Hal-Blood t-shirt with the sleeves torn off, and black dress pants. It looked kinda stupid, but his enormous arms, military crew-cut, and axe made me think twice about telling him that.

"Hey Alex," the younger one greeted. He looked at me. "Who's this?"

Alex opened her mouth, but I answered first. "Jacob. You're the guys stupid enough to challenge the Demigod cabin huh?"

"It only had one camper when the challenge was made," the older one put in.

"Scared?" I asked, clicking my pen.

"Tony Baromec does not get scared," the younger one said.

_Does Tony Baromec always talk in third person? You better pray you fight that whack job, he's more your level, as opposed to Mr. Big over there._

"Thanks for the support Miz. Really, thanks," I mentally grumbled.

_Whenever you need me!_

I smacked Miz against the floor, and I stopped hearing his voice. The two kids exchanged looks.

"Alright then," the big one agreed. "Two on two."

Alex took off her necklace and spun it, turning it into a sword of Stygian iron. She held it steady, facing the older son of Zeus.

I readied Miz, who had thankfully shut his trap. Why he talks, I'll never know. My opponent, the younger son of Zeus, smirked and raised his shield. Unfair advantage!

_Life isn't fair._

"Shut it!" I hissed aloud.

"What?" my opponent asked, looking at me like I was crazy.

I silently cursed Miz and attacked. My sword was blocked by the shield, and he forced me back with his own weapon. I blocked each attack, but continued to back up as the fight continued.

_Yawn. Let's just kick his butt and be done with it._

"Will you please just let me handle this?" I thought.

_No. _

I mentally sighed and locked my blade with Tony's. He shoved me off with his shield and swung, which I blocked. I slashed at an odd angle, cutting a gash in Tony's shield. He looked me over with new found interest before ditching the shield.

I charged him, my sword a metallic blur of bronze and crystal. Tony moved just as fast, with sparks flying every time our blades clashed and thunder rumbling in the sky. His blade skidded against mine, sending a quick arc of lightning between our two blades.

I dodged under his next swing and kneed him in the stomach, following up by hilt slamming his face and sending him to the ground.

Alex was still busy with her fight. A blue streak of lightning flew toward her back as she locked her sword against Big Boy's axe. At the last second, the lightning arced around her, turning black. It struck the guy in the chest, and he fell to the floor. She stepped on his chest. We'd just whipped the Zeus cabin.

_That's right suckers! Feel the awesome power of Miz and his sidekicks!_

Alex brushed hair out of her face. The Zeus kids stood up, dusting themselves off. Miz transformed back into a pen and he stopped calling me his sidekick. I shook hands with Tony and hiis brother, whose name I later learned was Rick, and left the arena with Alex.

"What would you have done without me?" I asked smugly.

"Fought them one at a time," Alex said. "And I still would've won."

"Sure," I said, still smug from my vistory against Tony. "All I know is, we're gonna rock Friday night."

_**Muffin Man: You will join the others in DEATH!**_

_**003: *pulls out turbo laser* You want death? Take it! *fires laser* **_

_**Muffin Man: Ha! That thing won't stop me.**_

_**003: I know, it was a distraction. Now man!**_

_**1136: *passes gas***_

_**Muffin Man: No!*cough cough* my one *cough* weakness! NOOOOO!**_

_**003: Thanks guys couldn't have done it without ya! The filler chapters are always my least favorite. And now: What is Evan up too? How will capture the flag go for Jacob? Who the heck is Roxanne? Is there something weird about Brian? Tune in next time to find out! **_


	6. Evan's Quest

_**003: Alright. M.M is dead, 1136 has a bionic arm, 002 is safe, and I even created a forum because I was bored! All is right with the world. Take the spotlight off the heroes and say hello to a menace all grown up. Evan is about twenty by now, and Alice is what? Twenty-two? Yeah that'll work. Cue chapter!**_

Evan POV

"Invulnerable bear?" Alice cried. "What next?"

"Nothing is invulnerable," I insisted, before slashing the crazed bear's stomach. The thing was the size of a hummer, and its claws and teeth were solid bronze. The blade left a deep cut, but it healed rapidly. The bear swatted me aside, and I crashed into the cold cave wall.

Everything went hazy for a bit, and I couldn't move. I watched as the bear, walking on its hind legs, lumber toward me. Alice shot forward like a missile, delivering a flying kick to the bear's chest. The bear stumbled back before falling back on all fours. It roared in anger, and Alice helped me up.

I raised my sword again. "I thought Celestial bronze was supposed to kill monsters!"

"Obviously this thing is tougher!" Alice shouted before transforming into a bear and charging forward. Alice slashed, but her claws did little against her massive opponent. The bear rammed forward like a rhino, and Alice went flying. She rolled across the cave floor, turning back into a human as she rolled. The bear got back up on its hind legs and moved toward her.

"Don't even think about it salmon breath!" I shouted and hurled my sword like a javelin.

It embedded itself up to the hilt in the bear's chest, but it just turned towards me and roared.

"Why can't you just die?" I cried in frustration.

The bear slashed, but I jumped up and over it, landing on its back and holding on to its neck for dear life. With one hand I drew my knife and stabbed the bear in the neck. Blood splattered from the wound, but the bear kept thrashing. It slammed its back against a wall, nearly crushing me. I somehow managed to hold on and stabbed again. The bear responded by roaring and slamming me into the wall again and again, and I kept stabbing just as much.

The bear gave out first, and collapsed on top of me. It turned to dust, and I was covered in it. I sneezed.

Alice grudgingly stood up. "Nice work."

"You too," I said. I looked back, at the dead body of Raymond, son of Demeter who'd come here with us. He was eleven years old. His death would haunt me forever. But I couldn't think those thoughts right now. We were on a mission, and from what Helen had told us, we were very, very close to succeeding.

We ventured deeper into the cave, until we came to it. A single, large rock blocked the way. Inscribed in the rock in Ancient Greek were the words: _From the scythe he was imprisoned, and from the scythe he shall be freed._

"If we want in," I realized. "We'll need Kronos's scythe."

"It was destroyed," Alice reminded me. "Melted down on Olympus by the flames of the hearth."

"And what did they do with that melted metal?" I asked.

"Melted into an orb and stored under Zeus's throne, why?" Alice asked, before realizing my plan. "You're crazy. We can't break into Olympus. We'll be killed in a million different ways!"

"No one ever said enslaving Kronos's father was gonna be easy," I reminded her. "Contact Neroh, tell him to send Helen and Michel, have them meet us up at Olympus."

"This is crazy," Alice said, even as she whipped out her cell phone. "Wow. You get a lot of bars at the top of the world."

"Where are they?" Helen asked. "We've going to get caught."

"Shut up!" Michel hissed. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Helen whispered.

Alice and I arrived, and the four of us all hid behind a large statue of Poseidon.

"Everybody ready?" I asked, "because this plan is going to take flawless execution. Helen, you and Alice are with me. We'll sneak to the throne room, and once we're in position Michel, I need you to go on a quick destruction rampage. Starting with this Poseidon statue. The gods should get distracted and go after you. Alice, you and me will _into _the throne room while the gods follow Michel and steal the orb. Helen, you get us out of here when we're done."

"I hate your plans," Michel groaned.

"Don't be such a baby," Helen said. "Tell you what, first sign that the gods are going to catch you, I pull you out."

"Trust my life with the hot and now immortal sorceress?" Michel asked. "I _really _hate your plans Evan."

"Let's do this people!" I whisper-shouted.

We all split up. Just as Alice, Helen, and I reached the outside of the throne room, the statue of Poseidon toppled down. Thirteen massive beings ran out, chasing the trail of destruction. Michel may hate his job, but he is good at it.

"Go go go!" I shouted, and Alice and I ran into the throne room.

I grabbed the bottom of Zeus's throne and lifted it up about a foot. It was pretty heavy, but I'd held the sky before to prove my worth, so I held it while Alice turned to a cat and got the orb that was once the blade of Kronos's scythe.

"You realize Zeus is gonna kill me for touching his throne, right?" I asked as Alice turned back to normal.

"Then we'd better got out of here," Alice said. The orb was the size of a basketball, and from the way Alice held it, it was probably heavy.

We ran out of the throne room in time to see Michel jump away from an energy blast, courtesy of Ares. Helen jumped on scene and waved her hand, and the gods involuntarily morphed into animals. Helen collapsed and Michel caught her.

"Looks like we're taking the elevator," I groaned.

With Michel supporting Helen, we made for the elevator with an eagle, a horse, an owl, a peacock, and a bunch of other animals chased after us. I smacked the eagle out of the sky with my sword. Yeah…we are so dead once they get back to normal.

Helen and Michel got inside the elevator while Alice and I held of a wild boar and a tiger. I bashed the tiger in the face with my hilt while Alice turned into a gorilla and threw the boar back towards Olympus. She turned back and ran inside the elevator, with me right behind her.

The elevator went down, but froze when the number read fifty-seven. I hit the emergency open button, and we all ran out. Well, Alice and I ran. Michel and Helen stumbled out as fast as they could. We made for the staircase and went down fast as possible. It took forever and Michel and Helen fell on top of each other once, but we raced out of the Empire State Building.

Lightning flashed all around the building. We were running out of time. Helen was still too weak to teleport us back to base, and there was no way we could outrun the fury of the gods. We were out of options, out of time, out of…everything. I pulled out my phone and dialed as fast as possible.

"This is no time to order a pizza!" Alice barked at me.

I waited the first tone…the second…

"What is it?" Neroh answered.

"Get us out of here now!" I shouted.

Water swirled around us and we were whisked away, back to base. We all collapsed to the floor, because we can never breathe when we use Neroh's water travel. Neroh walked into the room, clearly unhappy he'd had to save us. But I was in charge now. He listened to _me_.

"Did you get it?" he asked.

Alice held up the orb. "Wouldn't have come back if we didn't."  
"Am I the only one with a brain?" Michel asked. "We've got the metal, but how do we turn it back into a scythe. And not just any scythe. A scythe of half steel half Celestial bronze. We'd need an expert forge man."

"Like a Cyclopes," I said. "And I know just the Cyclopes…"

"What's running through that twisted mind of yours?" Alice asked.

"Get a team ready," I said. "We're going after Jacksson."

_**002: Hey guys! I'm okay! Real sorry about going on a date with you know who.**_

**_003: Just ask the chapter questions._**

**_002: Fine. Which Jackson is The Pit going after? Who will be on the team that leads the attack? Why is Evan ALMOST seeming like a good guy? Tune in next time to find out!_**


	7. Capture the Flag

_**1136: Hey. 002 and 003 are at couple's counseling, so I'm in charge for a bit. This chapter, we see more of Jacob, we meet Roxanne, and Miz continues to annoy everyone. Sounds cool right? While you read, I'm going to trash 003's stuff with my bionic arm. MWAHAHAHA!**_

Jacob's POV

I strapped on my armor, which felt uncomfortable and stupid. I wanted to fight without it, but Alex told me I'd get killed if I tried that. The two leading cabins were Hermes and Ares. On Ares' side was Athena (Which was surprising.), Zeus, Apollo, Demeter, and the minor god cabins, except for Nemesis.

Backing up Hermes was Poseidon, Demigod, Hephaestus, Nemesis, and Aphrodite. It was seventeen against sixteen, with the odds in Ares' favor. Not to mention most of the Aphrodite kids were useless in a fight.

Will, the oldest son of Hermes, gathered us to assign us our jobs. Brian and his brother Chuck were guarding the flag, while Eddy (Son of Nemesis) and the other son of Hephaestus (Morgan) were on border patrol. The Hermes cabin would come from the left flank while the Aphrodite came up the middle. Both cabins were to serve as distractions while the Demigod and Poseidon cabins (Me, Alex, and Henry.) came up the right flank and stole the flag. I was the one behind that plan, even though Will took the credit.

"You think Will's plan will work?" Alex asked as we walked towards got into position.

She was wearing all black armor, which made it kinda hard to see her in the dark. It wasn't just the armor either, shadows literally seemed to cling to her. Gothic, yet appealing.

"Sure hope so," Henry, the son of Poseidon said as he came up behind us.

Henry is the only son of Poseidon since my dad. He has green eyes and dark hair, but his hair was cut shorter, and the only time he ever wore something to cover his torso was on occasions that required armor, like tonight. Usually, he walks around shirtless and in shorts. He trained with me a lot, and we worked on our water powers. He's been at this longer than I had, but I must have a knack for this or something, because I soon caught up to him in skill level with water.

We all went our ways to assume our positions, until the signal was given and the game started. Both distraction cabins charged forward, although Aphrodite cabin came a little weaker. Trees attacked them as they charged, and other plants were holding them back as well. Demeter kids.

Alex, Henry and I came to the creek, the border line. Alex looked around.

"No border patrol," she noted.

"They didn't have enough reinforcements for a border patrol, not with the strategy they have," I explained. "We're playing an offensive game, with only four of us in defensive roles. That would make it pretty easy for our defenses to be overwhelmed. And that's what they're trying at."

Henry stiffened as we waded through the creek. "They just crossed into our turf. Three of them. I'm getting a real nasty vibe from them too…Ares kids."

"I'm getting the same feeling," I told him.

Alex just looked at us both. "Whatever water heads."

"Jealous?" Henry asked.

Alex touched her sword blade to the water, and electricity coursed up our legs. Henry cursed under his breath, and we moved on out of the creek and into enemy turf. Something wasn't right. If it was just the Ares kids after our flag, where was the rest of the other team?

"It's a trap," I said flatly, even as we continued past the fighting between our team and the Demeter kids, who were doing their best to stay out of sight and let the plants do all the work.

We came towards a clearing, near Zeus's Fist. It honestly looked _nothing _like a fist, and I frankly wanted to call it "the big pile of crap." But Alex said I couldn't, so Zeus's Fist it was. Near the base of the "fist" was the flag, ugly red like the Ares cabin and with pictures of a bloodied spear and a wild boar. Two guards stood vigilantly. I recognized them as the Zeus kids.

"Cake," Alex said, and moved forward, but I stopped her.

"Easy," I warned. "You almost walked into a trap."

"What trap? It's just them!" Alex whispered.

"Lightning please," I told her.

She rolled her eyes at me, but a black lightning bolt flared across the sky, temporarily turning Zeus's fist into a silhouette, and standing on top of said silhouette were three human silhouettes' all with bows drawn. The Apollo cabin.

Alex and Henry looked at me. "How?" they asked.

"There were too many people missing from the action," I explained. "Now we just need to figure out were the Athena kids are, and we can make our move."

Far off, from back in our territory, a javelin was thrown into the sky and exploded. Brian had sent that signal. They were being overrun.

"Scratch that, we're running out of time. Henry, get word to the others. Fall back. They do _not _capture our flag."

Henry rolled his eyes. "Aye, aye captain."

He sprinted off, leaving me and Alex to get the flag. I looked to Zeus's Fist.

"Poseidon is the god of earthquakes too right?" I asked.

"Yeah," Alex answered. "Why?"

"Stay here. When I give the signal, distract the Zeus kids while I get the flag," I told her, and sprinted off.

"Wait! What signal?" Alex whispered, but I was long gone.

I focused on the Earth, its instability, its movement. Suddenly, the ground began to shake, and the pile of rocks that was Zeus's Fist tumbled into nothing. Alex jumped out, recognizing that as the signal.

She engaged the Zeus kids, sparks flying and lightning flashing with every clash of their weapons. I ran forward, scooped up the flag, and ran off, the arrows of the recovering Apollo cabin chasing after me. I clicked Miz to life, and the sword sprung up.

_Alright what have you gotten us into this time? Capture the Flag huh? Watch out._

I had no idea what Miz was talking about until I tripped on an arrow. I groaned, got back up, and kept running.

"You don't even have eyes!" I snapped at Miz.

_I see what you see. You saw that arrow. You just didn't notice it. _

"Shut it Miz," I told him as we ran into the woods.

Armor was awkward to run in, so I gave up and tossed the flag to the ground. After that, I took off my helmet, followed by the rest of my armor. I really, really hated wearing armor. Way too bulky and just plain annoying.

With my armor off, I walked back to the flag when something knocked me to the ground. I rolled onto my back and saw a girl in battle armor, sword pointed at my unprotected chest.

_Smart One._

"That wasn't exactly a smart move," the girl told me. "You're totally defenseless now."

I batted her sword aside and rose to my feet. "I have a sword don't I?"

"Pretty cocky for a guy that tripped on an arrow," the girl said.

_Oh he's _very _cocky. Especially at night if you catch my–_

I smacked Miz to the floor again. He feels no pain, but that still shuts him up. I focused on my opponent. Gray eyes, blonde hair. Found one of the Athena kids. Just then four other kids dropped down from the trees, circling me.

_Found the rest of them._

I had one option: suicide. Or a version of it. I charged the nearest one, a girl my age, and I kicked her to the floor. Two of them came up behind me, guys older than me. I swung, batting their attacks aside. I swung for one guy's head, but he blocked and kicked me to the ground. I rolled aside and tripped the oldest one, a guy about college age. While he was down, I fought off a girl a little older than me.

I slashed at her left, which she blocked. I jumped back before thrusting, hitting her in the armored chest and knocking her to the ground.

The girl I'd kicked in the beginning came at me along with the oldest guy. I was forced back, away from the flag as they carried it back further into their territory. They continued to push me back until I was at the creek, fighting with everything I had.

As soon as I stepped in the water though, I got the upper hand. I parried the girl's attack and grabbed the older guy by the arm. One yank and he fell head first into the creek. I jumped up and knocked the girl to the ground with a sword strike. I kicked off the guy as he got back, and sprinted off after the flag, with no armor slowing me down.

_Nice. Three to go. Let's move, if they get that flag all the way back to their base you'll never hear the end of it from Alex._

I caught up with the three Athena kids before they got the flag to their base. I jumped and kicked one of them to the ground. I slashed off the helmet of the second, and hilt slammed the third one in between the eyes before grabbing the flag back and taking off.

I took way too long. The Ares kids were approaching the creek, with the girl carrying the flag. I jumped into the creek at the same time she did. I couldn't let her get back to our side. As if on command, there was a tug on my gut and the creek rose up like walls, trapping me and the Ares girl in the now dry creek bed. She slashed at the water, but it held.

"You're not getting away with that flag," she told me.

"I was about to tell you the same thing," I shot back.

_And I was about to tell her she's pretty cute for an Ares girl._

"Shut it Miz!" I yelled in my mind.

She had brown hair and eyes. She was at least a head taller than me, and way more athletic. She was a lot cuter than her siblings, who were border line ugly. But, I'd seen cuter girls. Alex to name one. Did I just say that? Her blood red armor was pretty intimidating. She stabbed the flag into the creek bed and extended her hand for shaking.

"I'm Roxanne," she said.

Warily, I shook her hand. Her grip tightened, and I was judo thrown across the creek bed. Roxanne drew her other sword.

_Dude, did you really fall for that?_

I stood up and readied my own sword. We rushed each other, and our swords clanging hard. I parried her first sword and blocked her second. She spun, and I had to work to block both of her strikes. She slashed both swords down, giving me a cut on each shoulder. I dropped my sword, and she kicked me across the creek bed.

I found my self feeling more tired than I should. Holding up the water walls and fighting Roxanne was taking its toll. I had a last ditch effort idea. I let the water fall, practically drowning the girl and leaving me fine. No I mean, I was _dry _and _breathing _under the creek water.

I stood up, grabbed the Ares flag, and tried to leap out of the creek, but Roxanne grabbed my ankle and stooped me, She was soaked, her helmet was gone, and she was pissed.

"Toss the flag up!" a girl shouted from somewhere in the enemy territory.

I obeyed, and a black shadow shot up into the air and caught the flag. The shadow came down, kicked off of me, and landed safely on the other side. It was Alex, proudly holding up the enemy flag as it shimmered and changed to a silver flag with a black lightning bolt against a black bow and cluster of arrows, the symbol of her family.

Our side exploded in cheers, and the enemy side grudgingly kicked the ground and grumbled. Well most of them did. The Ares kids were stabbing the ground and cursing and what not.

I staggered out of the creek and joined our side in celebration. I high fived some kids, hugged a couple of Aphrodite girls, shook hands with Henry, got a–painful–smack on the back from Brian. I even hugged Alex when I got to her. We lifted her up and carried her around, cheering and just being awesome. That's when all Hades broke loose.

_**1136: Now tell me that wasn't cool! Alright, tomorrow we see just what happened that made all Hades break loose. I don't feel like taking charge of that chapter, so I'll find someone else to handle it.**_


	8. Next Gen vs The Pit

_**Random Agent: What am I doing here?**_

_**1136: Speak words now!**_

_**Random Agent: Ah! Okay…um, I woke up in the middle of night with some kid dragging me into the desert, he stamped a number on my arm…017? Anyway, if someone could please call the police I'd be–**_

_**1136: Silence! *smacks 017 over the head* Roll the chapter!**_

There was a stab of pain in my shoulder, and something warm and wet ran down my arm. Time seemed to slow down as Will shouted, "Ambush!"

I dropped to the floor as arrows flew over my head. Most of the campers got lucky, but an arrow pierced Eddy's throat, and another clipped Roxanne's leg. A cloud of armored figures leaped forward, weapons ready. The Apollo cabin fired off a volley of arrows, taking down a few of the invaders. I ripped the arrow out of shoulder and charged forward along with everyone else.

I fought against a kid my age. He had silky dark hair and olive skin. In his hands was a spear with a Stygian iron tip. A son of Hades. We fought for a brief moment before I sliced the tip off his spear and tried to stab him. He disappeared into the shadows like Alex did sometimes.

All around me, campers were being overwhelmed by whoever these guys were. Peleus shot toward them, snapping and thrashing, and basically kicking ass. Chiron trotted forward too, shooting arrows at whoever these people were. Satyrs came to our aid, beating people with wooden clubs and the occasional knife. The invaders all wore grey battle armor, so they were easy to spot in the chaos.

Alex was surrounded. I was about to run to help her, but she didn't need me. She jumped, kicked one guy down, then dodged mid-air before stabbing someone else. She landed and tripped a girl with her sword. From there she jumped up and over another one and sliced them in the back. With that, done, she sprinted off.

_Whoa. She's good._

I jumped onto an older invaders shoulders and punched him in the face. From there I back flipped off of him and slashed downward, cutting another enemy's sword in half.

"Pit! Fall back!" a voice ordered, and every grey armored figure who could run, ran. They even got a lot of their wounded out, but one or two grey armored figures were left behind.

"After them!" Alex shouted.

We charged after them, but soon found ourselves surrounded. A trap. I looked around at the people who were with me. Alex, Henry, Brian, Roxanne, Will, and Han.

Han, unlike most satyrs, was using knives rather than clubs.

Brian had an arrow quiver, but instead of arrows in it, there were a bunch of metal shafts that turned into all kinds of things with the click of a button. Exploding javelins, nets, hammers, exploding javelins, barbed wire grenades, smoke screens, you name it, Brian's javelin shafts had all kinds of uses.

Alex, she was Alex. I did not envy the person who had to fight her. Her sword was almost impossible to see in the night, but then so was the rest of her. She gripped her sword tightly, waiting to attack.

Roxanne's eyes were darting everywhere, her swords quivering as she tried to remain still. She was like a tiger about to pounce.

Henry had his trident with him. He was unstoppable with that thing. I'd seen him fight Alex to a draw with it.

Will was empty handed, but I knew he wouldn't be for long. When he fought, he had a knack for stealing peoples weapons. He'd tried that on me one time, and Miz had disappeared right out of his hands.

_Seven of us, a lot of them. We're dead._

"Shut it," I muttered.

One guy in grey armor came forward. He was in his teens, and a four foot sword was in his hands. Engraved into the hilt and blade of his sword was the image of a snake coiled around the weapon.

"So…" he spoke, "this is the best of Camp Half-Blood? Honestly pathetic if I say so myself."

"Who are you people, why did you attack camp?" Roxanne demanded.

"Michel, son of Oceanus," Michel introduced. "And we are The Pit."

"The Pit?" we all asked in unison.

Michel snorted. "So, the horseman hasn't told you yet? The world isn't as peachy keen as they want you to believe. Do you know why there are so few demigods at this stupid camp? Because The Pit saved most of them, took them in, and trained them. We're bringing Olympus crumbling down, and we're gonna make you watch. Consider this visit a warning. Because this is nothing compared to our full force."

"I've got a warning for you," Alex said. "You attack our base, we attack yours."

"If your first try didn't work, what makes you think the second one will?" Michel laughed.

"First try?" I asked in confusion

Michel smirked. "What _have _they told you? You want to know what's going on so bad? Ask your parents Hybrid!"

"What did you call me?" I snarled, getting angry.

"Head for the ocean!" Michel ordered the rest of his buddies, or "The Pit" as they were apparently called. "I'll cover you!"

They all took off, headed for the beach. We raced to keep up with them. Brian threw one of his shafts, which exploded into a net and fell towards the fleeing group. Michel jumped and sliced it out of the air.

The Pit jumped into ocean, until only Michel was left. He leapt forward, but Henry was faster. A wave shot forward and knocked him back onto the beach. He stood and turned. He was still dry.

"You sure you want a fight?" Michel asked us.

The seven of us stood ready. I knew nothing could take our combined power.

"You sure you want one?" I shot back.

He smirked, and the ocean shot forward in seven powerful streams. In reflex, I crossed my arms in an X in front of me, and the water went around me like it had hit a shield. The others weren't so lucky. Aside from Henry, all the others were blown back.

Henry spun his trident like a baton, in front of him, behind his back, around his neck, before holding it ready. Show off.

I just spun my sword once in my hand. Simple. Michel drew his own sword and we charged each other. Michel blocked Henry's strike and kicked me aside. Henry had Michel's blade between two of the points, and with one twist the sword went flying. Of course though, it turned to a snake mid air. The snake fell down to Earth, coiled around Henry's throat, and sank its fangs into Henry's calf. Henry fell to the ground, and the others rushed to his side.

I jumped back up and took a swing and Michel, but with a wave of his hand he summon enough water to form a shield. He blocked my strike, so I tried another. Again I was blocked. I stabbed hard, my blade sinking about a quarter of an inch into the shield. Water started spraying out like I'd punctured a high pressure hose.

_Ugh, just let me do it._

"Do what?" I thought, but at that instant the crystal at the tip and base of my blade glowed and the water seemed to flow into it. Michel jumped back to avoid my stab that came with my forward momentum.

_That's Oceanic sapphire for you._

"Um, thanks," it's very wired thanking your weaponry.

_Don't just stand there, hit him!_

I swung, and the crystals glowed. When my blade connected with Michel's breastplate, water splashed everywhere. I swung again, giving Michel a cut on the cheek. My strikes were coming fast, faster than I knew I cold swing. I cut his leg, shoulder, and hand in rapid succession before pointing the sword at him and letting a jet stream of water shoot out of my sword and blow him into the sea with his friends.

_Way to g kid. Your first real fight and you didn't die. _

I didn't have time to tell Miz to shut his nonexistent mouth, because Henry was still gasping and struggling. The snake was dead and off of him by now, so it had to be the venom.

"Henry!" I shouted. "Is he gonna be alright?"

_No. _

"We have to get him to the water," Will said. "It's his best shot."

We lugged Henry's dying–if not already dead–form to the ocean's waves and dunked him in, careful not to let go of his ankle and lose him to the tide. It took a few moments. Henry didn't move…

The Pit POV

Michel checked his cell as he rode the currents in an air bubble along with the rest of The Pit. One bar…nothing…half a bar…nothing…here we go two bars.

Michel called Evan, waiting only half a tone.

"Did you finish the job?" Evan asked

"We did," Michel said.

"And?"

"They barely told them anything. They'll take the bait."

"Perfect."

_**017: Keep away from me! Come any closer and I'll–**_

_**1136: *knocks 017 unconscious* Wow newbies are annoying. Anyway, what will Jacob and the others do now that they've "taken the bait"? Will Henry survive? What's Evan up to? Tune in next time to find out!**_


	9. Save one, Lose another

_**003: He trashed my room. He threw a party. He threw…a PARTY. Remind me why I agreed to leave him in charge?**_

_**002: I honestly I can't remember.**_

_**003: *sigh* Post the chapter, I'll get the paddle.**_

Henry still wasn't moving. I was about to pull him out and just admit we were too late when a riptide yanked him out of Alex's hands and he was whisked away by the sea. At first I was shocked, but then Henry shot up out of the water like a dolphin. He submerged again, and swam to shore.

He was gasping for breath, soaking wet, and he was pale. That was odd, considering he was a son of Poseidon, but after a few minutes his breathing slowed, the color returned to his skin, and he dried instantly. He staggered up.

"I really, really hate snakes," he joked weakly before collapsing into Roxanne's arms. He looked at him like she was holding a corpse. She looked around.

"Does anyone else want to carry him?" she asked.

"Gotta go," Will said as he walked off.

"Chiron's gonna want to know what happened, so bye!" Brian called. Damn he stole my excuse.

"I'm gonna go check on the other campers," Alex said, walking off. She stole my other excuse!

"I just don't want to do it," Han stated and trotted off.

Roxanne looked at me and dumped Henry on me. So much for excuses. I lugged Henry back to the Poseidon cabin. He is heavy. I got his battle armor off of him and just let him rest in his bunk. I took a second to just admire the Poseidon cabin. It was nice, and it reminded me of my dad. I wondered what he was doing right now…

Percy's POV

"You sure this is a good idea?" I asked Annabeth once again.

"Of course it is," Annabeth assured. "Why wouldn't Jacob be happy to see us?"

"I don't know," I admitted. "But I mean, what if he's embarrassed? He doesn't need people thinking he can't get through a week of camp without Mommy and Daddy visiting him."

"If he's at all like you, he's probably embarrassed himself far worse by now," Annabeth joked.

"Ha-ha."

"Besides, we never really explained everything to him. Who else is going to tell him about The Pit and the prophecy?" Annabeth asked.

She was right. We'd hid Jacob from this life at first, but we knew that we had to accept it. And if _he _was going to accept it, then he had to know everything. The Pit. The prophecy. Everything. Even if Chiron thought it was a bad idea. Now that I thought about it, the mind wipe was the bad idea. Knowledge was power, and Jacob was going to need every bit of power he could get.

Annabeth took her Yankees cap out of her pocket and smiled at it.

"It's been awhile since I've used this," she said dreamily. "Think Jacob could use it?"

"He's already got the talking sword," I reminded. "One magic item per unstoppable demigod force."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "C'mon let's just go. I want to ask how his first game of Capture the Flag went."

"I wonder if he whipped the Ares cabin like I did," I wondered out loud.

"We can ask him when we get there," Annabeth told me, anxious to get on the move.

"Alright, alright, just let me get my keys," I told her.

I did, and we walked to the car. I don't know what happened exactly, but the car exploded, and Annabeth and I were blasted back. Fire and debris rained down, and Riptide was in my hand in seconds.

I lone figure walked through the flames, unharmed. A sword slid into its hand, scraping the ground as it walked. I slowly rose, my brain still scrambled from the explosion. The figure lurched forward. I saw an eye patch. My sword was a blur, cutting through the air and clashing against my opponent's sword almost faster than I could comprehend.

Sparks were flying, flames were rolling where the car used to be. I ducked under my opponent's swing and elbowed him in the ribs. He countered by punching me in the face and kicking me in the ribs. I swung, and our swords locked together before he back flipped and threw a knife aimed for my eye. I sliced it out of the air with ease.

"You're good," I commented as I blocked his next strike and countered. "But I've got the experience."

I grabbed his sword arm and judo-threw him over my shoulder, taking his sword while I was at it. That's when I got a good look at him. He was young, twenty at the most but his hair was grayed at the temples, he wore an eye path, and he had a really stupid smirk on his face.

"Pretty happy for a guy who just got his butt kicked," I pointed out.

He just pointed behind me. I turned, and Annabeth was covered in webbing with spiders crawling all over. She probably would've screamed, but the webbing covered her mouth. A girl I recognized as Helen stepped into view.

"If you don't want the spiders to turn into angry black widows, you'll come with us," Helen warned.

I was ready to kill Helen, but that would probably get Annabeth killed too. I dropped Riptide and raised my hands in defeat. Helen waved her hand, and the faint glow of Riptide faded from the blade.

"Your coming with us Jackson," the guy told me. "Annabeth will be fine, and we'll be sure to bring you back when we're done with you. If you're still alive."

A snap of Helen's fingers and everything changed. I was in a prison cell. Six by six at the most. There was a deflated air mattress that I assumed was my bed, and an iron gate blocking the way out. A grey armored guard jumped at the sight of me, as if I'd appeared out of thin air. I probably had.

"Ah, the bait has finally shown up," he laughed.

"And just who am I bait for?" I asked.

"Figure it out," he challenged, and walked off.

I instinctively reached into my pocket, but Riptide wasn't in there. I was stuck, bait to be used in The Pit's master plan to free Urunos.

Jacob's POV

…eh, who knows what he's up to. Besides, I've got my own problems at the moment. Chiron had called an emergency council meeting, and since Alex and I had spent an entire night wrestling trying to determine who got to be head counselor and gotten nowhere, we were both going.

We all gathered around a ping pong table. Will from Hermes, Henry (Who was looking a lot better, and once again not wearing a shirt.) from Poseidon, Rick from Zeus, Ellen from Apollo, Grind from Ares (He's not nearly as good a fighter as Roxanne, I've seen him.), Dax from Athena, Chuck from Hephaestus, Marissa from Aphrodite, Peter from Iris, and Lexie from Demeter.

"Anybody have any idea who those people were?" Peter asked.

"They called themselves The Pit," I added. "And apparently, there's more of them."

Alex looked like she had a headache. "I know I've heard of them but…I don't know. My head…it's like trying to push against a brick wall."

I looked to Chiron. "Chiron, when we told them we were coming after them, they told us that we'd already tried and failed. What was he talking about?"

Chiron looked uncomfortable. "The Pit have an interesting history. We crossed paths with them sometime ago, but we assumed they'd faded after meeting defeat at the hands of the di Angelo family."

I figured Alex would look smug upon hearing that, but she was just rubbing her temples trying to keep her headache under control.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Save daddy…ring…Ethan…" she mumbled.

"But they're back now," Will said. "Why?"

"In the beginning, The Pit were after nothing short of the fall of Olympus, or at the very least demigods," Chiron explained. "They came very close to starting a war between the mortal and immortal worlds, but they failed and later returned with a new goal. They intended to free Kronos's father, Urunos from his prison, and use him to destroy Olympus."

"Obviously they know we're the gods first line of defense," Grind said. "They came here to take us out."

"Fight without a helmet too much Grind?" Dax joked. "They didn't come here to kill us. With their numbers, they could have. But they didn't. This was a quick hit and run."

"Cowards," Chuck muttered.

"Guys something's wrong with Alex," I interrupted.

She was leaning on me for support, one arm around my shoulders and the other holding her head. Chiron looked horrified.

"…remember…so cold…"

"She's gone insane!" Will shouted. I wanted to gut him then and there, but I didn't know why.

_She'll pull out of this. Mind wipes are tricky– never mind._

"What were you going to say?" I thought, but for once Miz didn't say a thing.

Alex gasped and rubbed her head. "I…guys, I think I know how we can find The Pit."

Chiron looked worried, but said nothing.

"How?" I asked as she stood on her own and got her arm off me.

"The old leader of The Pit…Ethan…" she winced when she said the name, like it literally hurt to remember, "he died a while back. He's in the Fields of Punishment. We can go there, and get _him _to tell where their base is."

"Sounds to me like you want a quest," Grind said. "Sure you're up for it?"

"I can handle the Underworld," Alex said.

Chiron cleared his throat. "The quest is yours Alex. Before you choose your companions and set off, you must consult the Oracle."

The second I heard the word Oracle, I got a bad headache. Something about the Oracle, not her exactly…a prophecy. The word prophecy made my headache worse, and suddenly I knew _exactly _what Alex had meant by pushing against a brick wall. I had memories…they were there somewhere, but trying to remember gave me a headache. But despite the pain I wanted…had to remember. At the same time, I had to stop trying to remember.

I wasn't aware of people staring at me. I also wasn't aware I'd curled into the fetal position on the floor. But eventually, my headache cleared and I stood up, everyone wearing a worried look (Except Grind, he just looked bored.)

Alex was gone, still talking with the Oracle? No, she entered the room again just as I stood up.

"Well?" Chiron asked.

"Jacob, you're with me," Alex said, ignoring Chiron. "Somebody get Brian too. We're going to the Underworld."

_**1136: *rubs bottom* Ow. I have run out of ways to say it. Ow. Anyway, what's gonna happen when Alex and co. arrive at the Underworld? What is The Pit planning? How long until Jacob and Alex learn that their minds were wiped when they were younger? Tune in next time to find out!**_


	10. Alex's Quest

_**003: Alright I'm back. 1136 is shoveling snow for the next few eternities, so I'm going solo once again.**_

_**002: Ahem.**_

_**003: Right. Mostly solo.**_

Alex refused to tell anyone about what the Oracle had told her. Well she didn't exactly refuse; she would just ignore anyone who asked. I would've asked too, but the mention of the Oracle gave me a headache. Ugh. And Miz obviously knew something. He just wasn't saying anything.

I packed everything I'd need, so did Alex. We set off, meeting Brian at the top of Half-Blood Hill and getting into the van. Argus was in the driver seat, driving us to the…the…airport. Brian was napping in his seat, Argus never talks, so I was pretty much alone with Alex. I kept fidgeting in my seat, and Alex must've noticed.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Me and flying…" I stammered, "well my grandpa _is _Poseidon."

Alex seemed to understand. "Relax. Zeus won't blast you out of the sky while I'm with you."

"You sure?" I asked, still uncertain.

"Positive," she assured, patting my shoulder. "You'll be fine."

I was still scared as possibly, but I swallowed my fear. At least until the gate. Because then I was so afraid it took Brian and Alex shoving with all their might to move me an inch.

"Get…on the plane," Brian grunted.

"No!" I shouted, punching him in the face.

Brian staggered back. "You know what, you get him on! I'm going to our seats."

"Quitter…" Alex grunted. "C'mon Jacob get on the plane!"

"Never!" I yelled.

"GET ON THE PLANE!" Alex ordered.

"I'm going!" I shouted quickly.

I ran onto the plane. Flying was scary, but Alex was terrifying. We had three seats, two next to each other and a third somewhere else in the plane. Brian looked at us and smiled.

"I'll take the one further back," he said and walked off to his sheet. What was that about?

Alex and I sat down in our seats. I really needed something to distract me from this flying.

"So what exactly are we doing?" I asked.

"We go to the Underworld, get The Pit's location from Ethan, and report back to Chiron and the others. Nothing much. There shouldn't be a single problem," Alex said.

"You had to say that didn't you?" I groaned. There was a quick jolt of turbulence, and I jumped in my seat. Alex laughed at me.

"Not funny!" I squeaked.

"Whatever Jacob. I bet your dad wasn't even this afraid of flying," she teased.

I wondered if my dad knew anything about The Pit. Come to think of it, I wondered what both my parents were doing right now.

Percy's POV

I woke up with a bad headache. I tried to stand, but the shackles attached to my wrist only let me get to my knees. My wrists were chaffed and bleeding, and what was left of my shirt was stained with my blood. Since seeing Tyson two days ago, things had gone down hill. Helen had zapped him and he vanished, so I didn't know if he was alive or not. I still wasn't going anywhere, and the torture only got worse.

The guard was leaning in his seat, reading a book. Suddenly, his eyes went wide and he started struggling against something. Muffled noises came from his mouth, like something was covering it.

His eyes rolled up into his head, and he went limp. The key seemed to float magically from his pocket into the lock. It turned and the door opened. The key then slid into the lock on my right shackle, and I caught a scent I'd recognize anywhere.

"Annabeth…"

The key moved to my other shackle, and I was free. The air shimmered and Annabeth appeared in front of me. Her arms crushed me in a hug, which was probably getting blood on her clothes.

"Hang on Percy, I'm getting you out of here," she assured. "Tyson showed up back at Poseidon's palace a few days. He gave me directions to this place."

I went limp in her arms for a second when I tried to stand. Annabeth put my arm around her shoulder and her arm around my waist. Together, we got me off the ground. She supported a lot of my weight as we walked, through the dark halls of The Pit's base.

"Percy, hang on Percy," Annabeth pleaded as we continued to walk.

I was too weak to talk, so I just gave a weak thumbs up. We entered a dark passage where I couldn't see a thing. Annabeth kept us moving though, and the next thing I knew we were headed toward the exit.

"We're gonna make it," Annabeth smiled, but then she cried out in pain and we both collapsed.

"Ooh, so close," a voice teased.

Evan Nakamura walked up behind us and yanked the arrow out of Annabeth's leg with more force than necessary. She cried out again, and cursed. I tired to stand, but I was hit by the butt end of a staff. I looked up to Evan, who was holding the weapon. It wasn't a staff. It was a scythe, half steel, half Celestial bronze.

Evan caught me looking at the scythe.

"Remember this weapon old man?" he laughed. "This weapon will open the prison to destroy everything. This is the beginning…of the end. Alice, get them back to their cells. I've got an old friend to visit."

Jacob's POV

The Underworld wasn't half as scary as the plane. The only thing that had me worried was the big dog that had to be Cerberus. What other dog has three heads? Brian and I were drawing our weapons, but Alex just walked up to Cerberus like nothing.

"Hey boy!" Alex greeted.

"Roof!"

Cerberus tackled Alex and I was about to charge forward, but then I realized he was just licking her. Alex was laughing and half-telling him to stop. By the time he was done, Alex was soaking in Underworld dog with drool. We walked past Cerberus without a worry.

"See? I told you this would be easy," Alex said. "There's the Fields of Punishment."

I looked, but it wasn't pretty. We approached cautiously, except for Alex who walked through with confidence. It took a bit, but we found where Ethan would be. His face was wrapped like a mummy in white hot whips as he ran through an obstacle course made entirely out of razor wire. I had to look away.

"I'll get the ghoul to give him a break so we can talk to him," Alex said, walking off.

While Brian and I waited, a voice shouted.

"Stop!"

A figure leapt down into Ethan's torture room. Who the? The figure slashed the whips off of Ethan's face with a sword and pinned the ghost against a wall.

"Hey dad," the figure greeted. "Just thought I'd come by to tell you we did it."

Ethan's eyes went wide and he spoke in the incomprehensible.

"Didn't think I could do it did you?" Evan asked. "Well I did. He'll be free by tomorrow. We even have the Jacksons prisoner. All except their annoying son. So I guess _you're _the real failure of the family huh?"

"Easy Jake," Brian tried to warn, but I ran forward anyway and clicked my pen. Miz sprung to life.

"What have you done with my parents?" I demanded.

Evan smiled, and I saw that he only had one eye. The other was cover by an eye patch. He readied his sword.

"Speak of the devil, you saved me the trouble of hunting you down," Evan grinned.

"You asking for a fight?" I asked.

_Actually, I think you are. In a suicidal way I might add. He's way older than you, you've got no water to back you up, you've got a week of training, he's probably beaten both your mom and dad, you don't stand a chance._

Evan surged forward, and before I could blink I had a cut on my leg, shoulder, back, neck, forehead, and chest. When I did blink, Evan hilt-slammed me to the ground. He was about to stab down, but a javelin sprouted from his armpit and he dropped his sword.

Brian leapt forward and clicked a second shaft. It turned into a hammer, and Brian threw. The hammer hit Evan in the jaw and I heard a _crack_. Evan yanked the javelin out of his armpit and threw it back at Brian. A shadow streaked across my field of vision, and the javelin was knocked off course. Alex landed next to Brian, sword drawn.

Evan picked up his sword and readied himself. Brian clicked a shaft and it turned into a javelin, which he held like a spear. Alex spun her sword. The three fighters clashed, Evan clearly taking the upper hand. Brian tried to stab, but Evan dodged and Brian ended up stabbing Alex in the shoulder.

_Your girl's hurt! Get up idiot!_

"She's not my girl!" I thought back.

I got up and grabbed Miz. I swung at Evan, but he blocked and kicked me in the stomach. He jumped up and over Brian before stabbing him behind the knee. He spun and slashed, cutting Alex's cheek. I jumped up and sung, my blade glancing off his grey armor.

_Hey, you hit him._

He swung at me, and I somehow blocked. He began his assault, keeping me on defense. I was backed up until Evan got tired of toying with me and tripped me with his sword. He was about to stab me, but changed his mind.

"Another day Jackson. I want to see your face when I destroy reality itself."

Evan walked off, laughing all the way. I reached out towards Alex, who was on the ground clutching her shoulder. That was the last thing I saw before blacking out.

_**002: Well, that's it for this chapter. Will the trio be okay? Will Jacob and Alex ever get their full memories back? Can Jacob save his parents? Tune in next time to find out! **_

_**1136: Hey I'm back! Great news! I can time travel!**_

_**003: *faints***_


	11. Rescue

_**1136: Got any threes?**_

_**003: Go fish. In shark infested waters.**_

_**1136: Kay. *casts line into pit filled with 20ft great whites* Whoa! I got a bite!**_

_**002: What are you guys doing?**_

_**1136 & 003: Time Traveler Olympics…**_

Alex's POV

I woke up in the Demigod cabin alone. My shoulder and cheek were sore, but I couldn't feel any cuts. Jacob stormed into the cabin, grumbling something about a stupid drunk and horse's ass.

"Hey," I greeted.

He looked up, as if acknowledging me for the first time.

"You're awake," he said.

"Yup. How's we get back to camp?"

"When we passed out in the Fields of Punishment, Hades found out and got a hold of Chiron. He got word to your dad, and he got us back to camp. Brian was the least scraped up," he told me. "My parents haven't been heard from in awhile. My dad disappeared first, then my Uncle Tyson, then my mom. No one knows where they are. Except me."

"Where are they?" I asked, worried about how Jacob was feeling.

"The Pit has them," Jacob said flatly. "And guess what else? Our parents and the other senior demigods are the ones who attacked The Pit's base. They _know _where The Pit's base is."

"Then we can go save your parents," I said cheerily.

"_We _can't do anything," Jacob grumbled. "They said it was too dangerous, and that they would go do it themselves."

I sat up in bed. I really didn't care that I was in a tank top and panties only. Jacob wasn't a pervert.

"So that's it?" I asked. "You're just going to sit around while your parents rot?"

Jacob sighed. "What should I do?"

"Oh Jacob," I said, pity in my voice. "So young. So naïve. Tell me can the magic borders keep you in?"

"No," he answered, confused.

"If the harpies caught you could you fight them off?"

"Yes."

"Do you want your parents back or not?"

"Yes I want them back!" Jacob yelled.

I got out of bed, pulled some pants on, and grabbed my necklace. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go."

"Okay, but we never found out where The Pit's base is," Jacob reminded me.

I sighed and pulled a shirt on. Had I taught him nothing?

"They sent my _parents _after them," I reminded him. "Children of the Big Three give off strong auras. Those auras are easily detected by gods, monsters…"

"And satyrs," Jacob finished. "Oh no. We're gonna have to take Han with us aren't we?"

"Unless you know another satyr who has no concern for the rules," I said.

Jacob sighed. "I'll go get him."

It took a while to find Han, but we found him, waved a bag of apples and tin cans in front of him, and we were off. I admitted I was a little nervous. I hadn't left Camp Half-Blood since I was eleven, when an _empousa _almost killed me. At least I had my training. Poor Jacob just had a sword, his powers, and a week of training. Han was…well Han was Han.

Han lead us up and over the hill. I stopped at the top to take one last look at Camp Half-Blood. I put my hand on the tree that was once my mom.

"Here we go…" I whispered.

"Alright first things first we need a ride," Han told us as we walked through the streets. "They took a car or something to wherever they went, and we won't catch up on foot.

I smirked and walked to the nearest car. It was dark inside of it. Perfect. I crawled underneath it, with both Jacob and Han watching me like I was nuts. From there it was a quick shadow travel into the car. Then came the hard part; hotwiring. Just when I thought I couldn't do it, the car roared to life and I popped open the door.

"Who knows how to drive?" I asked.

I ended up steering while Jacob worked the gear shift. Han just sat in the back telling us where to go. It was hard to stay awake, that is until I zapped Jacob in the butt. I swear his eyes didn't blink after that. How did we pay for gas? Don't ask.

I'm not going through the boring details of the driving, because then I'd get bored and fall asleep at the wheel, but eventually we ended up following a black car through the desert in New Mexico. Jacob yawned. Zap.

"That's them alright," Han said. "How fast have we been driving?"

"I floored it whenever I got the chance," I explained.

"That's why the scenery looked so blurry. I thought I just needed glasses."

"How much longer until we get to The Pit's base?" Jacob complained.

"Ask my mom and dad," I retorted.

Just then the car in front of us slammed on its brakes and two figures jumped out. I tried to stop, but we were going too fast and we crashed into the black car. My dad's car. A few seconds later, said black car exploded, and our car caught fire.

"Everybody out!" Jacob ordered.

"The doors are jammed!" Han bleated.

Nico's POV

I swore that car behind us was following us. What's worse, I could only occasionally see the driver. Either there was no driver or the driver was short. But I didn't have time to think about that, because a spear flew towards us and Thalia yelled, "Brake!"

I slammed on the brakes and we both jumped out. The car that had been following us crashed into our car and it exploded.

"Ambush!" Thalia yelled as her shield sprang up.

I drew my sword and watched as arrows rained down on our position. I saw three figures approach, weapons drawn. One fired off a volley of arrows, which Thalia blocked. I jumped forward, and the fight began.

The first one had a simple sword and shield, but he was a good fighter. It took me a whole ten seconds to disarm him and send him to the ground with a swipe to the legs. I jumped into the air to avoid being tripped by a spear swing. A quick parry and followed by a kick and he was gone. I was going to attack the last guy, but he was already on the ground cowering in fear of Thalia. I looked to the huge boulder shaped loosely like a spear point. The entrance to The Pit's HQ. Somewhere in that base was Percy and Annabeth. The last time we'd gone in there, not many of us had come out…

I was interrupted by the explosion of the car that had crashed into mine. I didn't have time to think about that, because Thalia was already at the entrance.

"C'mon Nico, we got a rescue mission to get done!"

"Coming Thalia…" I groaned. Back into the pit of death.

Alex's POV

Smoke was filling the car and the heat of the flames was hard to bear. We were all coughing and our eyes were watering. I still however managed to watch as my parents took out three members of The Pit and entered the base. Jacob took out his pen and clicked it, his sword springing to life. He cut out a hole out of the roof and shoved Han out of the burning car.

"Go!" he coughed.

I jumped out and was about to pull him out when the fire hit the gas tank and…you know what happens from there. I was blown back a good fifteen feet., and Han was knocked unconscious. I got up, and stared at the smoking, flaming hunk of metal that had once been our stolen car. I could see much through the flames and smoke, but eventually something tumbled out, flames dancing across its arms and legs.

"Jacob!" I screamed.

_**002: What's so cool about time traveling? Besides the fact that their impossible to be killed, they can go wherever, whenever, they do all kinds of cool stuff, they're in charge of the zombie prison in Antarctica, and man I want to be a time traveler! Anyway…Jacob is on fire, literally! Will Nico and Thalia save Jacob's parents, or will the kids save them? How close are The Pit to their evil goal? Tune in next time to find out!**_


	12. You Lose

_**002: Let's see…how to be a taco salesman, how to be a target, here we go how to be a time traveler! Oh wow that's a big section. Eh I'll read it later. Or I could read it while you people read the chapter.**_

Jacob's POV

I was on fire. Literally on fire. Well technically, my clothes were on fire, but that didn't change the fact that I was screaming in terror. I was vaguely aware that Alex had screamed my name. I swatted at the flames on my arms first, but that didn't work at all.

Water, I thought. I need water. The rational part of me knew that I was in a desert with no water, but the panicked part of my mind didn't give a crap. It just wanted the flames gone.

Alex shoved me into the ground and rolled me across the dirt. The flames were smothered and went out. To my luck, only my clothes had been burned.

"Thanks," I gasped, still in shock from being set on fire.

"No problem, you would've done the same for me," Alex said.

I heard a groan/bleat as Han got up and dusted himself off. "You sure Alex? Because the Jacob I knew would've let you burn."

I stealthily kicked him in the goat shins before saying, "Then you must know a different Jacob." The last thing I need is for my cabin mate to think I'm a jerk.

"Guys?" Alex asked, drawing our attention back to her. "Quest? Save Jacob's parents? Remember?"

"Right," Han and I said in unison.

_Forgetting someone?_

"Oh gods Miz!" I shouted.

"What?" Alex asked.

_Oh now I'm a what? That's it dump her._

"She's not even my girlfriend!" I thought-yelled back.

_Whatever. Just ask her out, and then dump her._

"You know what?" I said aloud. "I'm just gonna leave you wherever you are. You'll come back to my pocket anyway."

_Damn. I was hoping you'd forgotten that. Alright, see ya in about three…two…_

I felt weight enter my pocket. Miz was back, and I couldn't hear his voice while he was in pen form. That's when I noticed Han and Alex looking at me as if they were contemplating how I would look in a straight jacket.

"I'll explain later," I promised.

We walked to the boulder shaped like a spear point, and walked around it, looking for the way in. Han kicked it lightly, and a door opened on the side.

"I did not think that would work," he whistled.

"Alright let's go," I said.

We entered, and the door shut behind us, and all light disappeared. I felt the sensation of going down on an elevator. I counted the floors off in my head by calculating the speed of the elevator and crossing that with the height of a story (10ft)…and I'm most likely boring you with this. But anyway, my brain did the math and when the elevator finally stopped I knew we were fifteen stories underground.

The doors opened into a place that looked partially carved into the rock of the earth. The floors were a dusty tile, and the walls were a combination of rock and metal. The ceiling was nice and high though, with spot lamps hanging down from the rock ceiling.

"There's no telling how big this place is," Alex groaned. "Han?"

"Too many half-blood smells down here. I can't find Jacob's parents or yours. Hades, I can barely smell you two."

"Then I remembered to put deodorant on," I joked, but no one laughed.

We all turned when we caught the sound of metal scraping against metal. I clicked Miz back into sword form. Alex took off her necklace and with one spin turned it into her black sword. Han drew his knife. The three of us stood back to back as we saw a shadow dart by.

"I knew I should've stayed at camp," Han brayed.

That's when the shadow shot towards us and attacked.

Nico's POV

We'd gotten through half the base and only had to take down one Pit member. Where was everybody? There were hardly any guards, and the ones that were here weren't alert.

We continued to progress until we reached the entrance to the prison hold. Thalia was right behind me, shield ready, Mace canister in hand. I drew my sword and we both slipped inside under the cover of shadow.

The holds were empty, except for one that had a skeleton in it, and two cells down at the end that were under the lazy watch of a guard. On a shelf behind the guard were a ballpoint pen and a Yankees baseball cap. That was easy.

Thalia crept up towards the guard while I kept the shadows on her. She was almost impossible to see. Her spear extended to life and she stabbed, killing the guard and…stuffing popped out of the wound. Within seconds Thalia and I were surrounded by ten armed and dangerous half-bloods in grey armor.

They parted as another figure in armor approached. He smiled at the sight of us.

"Ah, the rescue committee," he laughed. "You people really are as stupid as they say."

"Who in Hades' name are you?" I asked.

"Neroh," he answered. "You wouldn't believe the trouble I've gone through locking you all up. And I've still got a few more to round up."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"He's capturing the senior demigods," Thalia answered.

"Correct," Neroh smiled. "The only ones powerful enough to stop Evan. And He's already halfway to Everest by now. It's too late. You've lost. Lower your weapons."

"Hades no," Thalia seethed. "We're going down fighting."

Neroh almost laughed. "Glad to hear it."

The ten Pit members stabbed forward. Thalia and I went back to back and fended off their attacks. I parried before taking a quick swing to force them back a little. Behind me, Thalia was blocking weapons with her shield and countering with her spear. One enemy went down. Two. I got a bad cut on my shoulder and Thalia jumped backward to avoid an attack, knocking me down.

She turned toward me for the slightest fraction of a second, and they got her. We were on the ground, beaten. I looked desperately at the cells Percy and Annabeth were occupying, but the cell doors were wide open and there wasn't an imprisoned half-blood in sight.

I looked to the shelf. No pen, no cap. One of the Pit front flipped for no apparent reason and landed on his back. His breath was knocked out of him and his head jerked to the side like it had been punched. A gleaming sword sprouted out of another guy's chest, and I caught Percy standing behind him.

Neroh snarled and water flowed from his hands before shaping into a sword and solidifying into metal. Neat trick. One girl in grey armor tried to stab Percy, but she flew backward without him touching her. The air shimmered and Annabeth appeared.

Thalia and I got up, ignoring our wounds. The four of us leveled or weapons at Neroh.

"A word of advice," Annabeth said smugly. "If you're going to imprison a child of Athena, always remove her hair pin."

"You also might want to consider getting better locks for your cells," Percy added.

"Four against one Fish-Head," Thalia told Neroh. "Ready to give up?"

Neroh spun his sword like a propeller, and water shot forward, washing us back. Percy diverted the water away from us, and the three of us advanced while he held it.

Neroh dodged Thalia's first strike and smacked her aside with the flat of his sword. I stabbed, which he parried. I blocked his next strike while Thalia attacked from behind.

Neroh spun around and blocked her before jumping away and taking a chop at Annabeth. The water Percy had been holding back shot forward at Neroh, smashing him against the wall. Annabeth held her knife to his throat.

"You lose," Percy told him.

A ring came from Neroh's pocket. Neroh dropped his sword and pulled the cell phone out of his pocket. Annabeth pressed the knife harder, and golden ichor flowed. Neroh just winced and answered his call.

"Uh-huh. Perfect," he hung up and smiled.  
"No. You lose."

_**002: Alright I think I got the moves down.**_

_**003: What moves?**_

_**002: Nothing. Hey you missed yesterday's update! So put up the next chapter! Besides, the readers don't get the next chapter until Friday after this.**_

_**003: You're right. Kay bye!**_


	13. Reunion Part 1

_**003: Alright next chappie. As I'mAnIdiotButWhoCares so cleverly put it: Who the Hades loses? Well here is your answer.**_

_**1136: Hey look what I plucked from the time stream moments before he died!**_

_**003: You saved Aqua red Youtube Lamp of Chaos from his death? That's tampering with the time line! That's– Well at least now he can review. **_

Jacob's POV

I moved faster than the others and swatted the shadow out of the sky with my sword. It crashed to the ground, and I saw what it was. A hellhound.

"A guard dog?" Han asked, and we all relaxed. One hellhound didn't stand a chance against the three of us.

I looked to Alex. "You want this one, or should I take it?"

Alex waved her hand forward. "By all means, have at it."

_Okay, be smart about this. I recommend slicing its head off._

"I recommend you shut up," I grumbled, again out loud.

The hellhound lunged again, and with one slash it was turned to dust. I expected more from The Pit, the same guys who had attacked camp. Something was off. They wanted attention on this base and away from something else. But what…

Annabeth's POV

"What do you mean _we _lose?" I asked.

"Evan and the others just arrived at Mt. Everest," Neroh told us. "They'll free Urunos within the hour. Very soon, we'll have the ultimate weapon. Enjoy the rest of your day half-bloods. It just might be your last."

Neroh vanished in a swirl of water, and we were left in shock. The very thing we'd worked so hard to prevent…

"Annabeth, call the others!" Percy ordered. "Tell them to get to Mt. Everest as soon as possible. We cannot let them break out Urunos!"

"I can get us there now," Thalia said. "We'll go in without them and hope they show up in time to help."

"Sounds like a plan," I said.

"We need to go outside for that to work Thals," Nico reminded her.

"Then let's go outside," Thalia said. We can get to the exit and then go save the world…again."

"Tired of saving the world Thalia?" Percy asked.

She sighed. "Someone's got to do it."

Jacob's POV

We walked through the base, headed toward the holding cells. That's when we heard footsteps and voices further ahead. We all froze and ducked against the rocky wall. The shadows clung to us, thanks to Alex, making it almost impossible to see us in the low light of the passage.

_Hey Smart One, did you bother to _listen _to the voices?_

The acoustics of the hall were weird, so I only heard bits and pieces of what the voices were saying.

"…we can stop them? ...head start after all."

"…talk is that? …always come out on top…right?"

"Don't get…Seaweed Brain."

"…love fest for later…"

I stepped out of the shadows. "Mom? Dad?"

My parents stopped dead in their tracks when they saw me. I looked at them and tried not to cry. My dad's shirt was tattered and soaked in blood in several places. Underneath it I saw several still healing cuts.

My mom's blonde hair was messed up like something had been living in it. Her leg was bandaged by a torn off shirt sleeve, she looked tired. She had cuts and scrapes across her body.

Bottom line? I wanted to kill whoever had done this to them. Behind my parents were two people my eidetic memory recognized as Alex's parents.

"Jacob?" my parents looked stunned.

I don't care how kiddish it was. I ran forward and hugged my parents. Think for a second what I'd gone through. I'd been attacked by a bull man, whisked away to camp without even getting a chance to say goodbye, found out my parents were missing, and then I find them here, looking like they'd gone to Hades the hard way. I needed a hug.

Alex and Han stepped out, and it was Alex's parents' turn to be shocked.

"Alex?" her dad asked.

She waved weakly. "Hey Dad."

"Alexandria di Angelo…" her mom began.

"Jacob L. Jackson…" my own mom started.

"What are you doing here?" they asked in unison.

"Saving you!" I blurted. "But I guess you don't need saving."

Alex's dad gave me a look. "Didn't we tell you we would handle it?"

Hey, I never knew my shoes had a scrape on the heel. I found all four adults' gazes on me.

"I was worried okay?" I caved. "and I was going to stay but Alex talked me into it!"

"Hey!" she shouted. I was so dead later. "Thanks for covering for me Smart One."

"HEY!" Han bleated. "We can save this for when we get home people. Let's go."

"Not just yet," my dad said. "You kids go on ahead. We have to go take care of a few things."

I froze. My parents were leaving again, most likely to go fight The Pit. I was going to lose them. Again.

_C'mon kid! We didn't come all this way just to turn back!_

"With all due respect Dad," I cleared my throat. "Hades no. I came across the country to save you, and I'm _not _about to let you go play hero and get yourself killed. If you're gonna go fight The Pit, I'm coming with you."

My mom opened her mouth, but I was already on a roll.

"Don't say it. I'm not a little kid anymore. I'm coming with you, or I'll follow you. Either way, I'm going to help."

Alex was talking with her parents, but I wasn't paying attention to what they were saying. But in the end they sent her to stand next to me and the four of them stared us down while Han studied his hooves.

"You two think you have what it takes?" my dad asked us.

"It's in our blood," Alex said.

My dad turned to me. So did my mom, Alex's parents, and my friends.

_Well? Up for a little old-school head bashing?_

"Bring it on," I grinned.

The adults sighed. It was my mom who spoke up. "Alright you kids can come."

"Yes!" Alex shouted.

"Alright!" I cheered. "So we're not in trouble for sneaking away from camp?"

Alex's mom laughed. "Oh no you're both in big trouble when this is done."

The six of us walked to the exit of the base while my mom filled us in. The Pit, after all these years, was less than an hour away from freeing Urunos, and it was happening at Mt. Everest. Reinforcements would be on the way, but we were going in on our own.

"How exactly are we getting there so fast?" I asked.

Alex jerked a thumb to the sky. "Take a guess."

I looked up at clouds forming over the desert. Oh no. Oh n– The lightning struck, hitting the ground right in front of us. The next thing I knew we were standing on a frigid, snow-whipped mountain.

"There's the cave!" my mom shouted.

I looked to see a cave entrance. The six of us ran inside, but were shoved back outside by a burst of pressurized water. We landed in the snow, the water freezing on us in seconds. I brushed the frost off of me as best as I could, and slowly stood up, shivering.

The others stood up too. Two figures exited the cave. I recognized one as Michel, and my dad was kind enough to provide the name of the second one.

"Neroh."

I clicked Miz, and my Dad uncapped Riptide. Michel pulled a snake from his backpack, and it went stiff as a rod before turning into a sword. Water swirled into Neroh's hand before shaping turning into a sword.

"You can't handle both of us Jackson," Neroh said.

"Wanna bet?" my dad and I challenged at the same time.

"You guys go ahead," I told the others. "We can handle these losers."

Alex and Annabeth both looked worried, but nodded and ran into the cave along with Han and Alex's parents. I turned my attention back to Neroh and Michel. My dad gripped his sword even tighter.

_Are you two planning on staring them to death? Attack!_

I shot forward, going for Neroh, who burst into laughter before punching me into the snow. My dad streaked forward, trading strikes with Neroh. Neroh ducked under my dad's swing before striking at his ribs. Dad jumped back in time and slashed at Neroh's legs. Neroh blocked and countered by swinging for my dad's head.

Dad matrix dodged and kicked the sword from Neroh's hand. It turned to water again and flew back toward my dad. It would've hit him behind the head and knocked him to the ground, but I threw Miz and the Oceanic sapphire absorbed the water like a sponge.

Michel leapt toward me, but I kicked him back ward and rolled away, picking up Miz while I was at it. I stood in time to block Michel's next strike. Our blades locked for a second, and I felt his strength press against me. His sword wrapped around mine and turned back to a snake. It lashed out fangs first, and I had to drop Miz to avoid being bitten.

My dad continued to hold his own against Neroh, and meanwhile I was avoiding Michel's fists. Couldn't beat him empty handed, and my weapon was still being humped by a reptile. Wait a minute.

I dodged Michel's kick and grabbed my sword again. I ripped the snake off of Miz and hurled it and Michel before it could bite me. Agitated, the snake bit the first thing it could. Michel cried out in pain as the fangs sank into his shoulder.

"That was for Henry," I spat.

_**003: Alright that's it for now. See ya Friday!**_


	14. Reunion Part 2

_**1136: You'll never believe what I found in 1375.**_

_**003: What did you find?**_

_**1136: *yanks 002 into the room* This.**_

_**002: Hiya…**_

While Michel squirmed as the venom coursed through his veins, I scooped up Miz and ran to my dad. He had been backed up into the cave by Neroh, and he looked ready to collapse. Neroh sent a surged of water at my dad, but a wave of his hand and it went around him. I could tell the effort to block Neroh's attacks was leaving him exhausted. Neroh shot three streams of water forward, which hardened into razor sharp shards of ice as they flew.

My dad was too weak. He was dead. I had one chance. Ice was just solid water, and since I can control water…

The three icicles stopped mid-air, suspended by my will. Neroh looked at me and tried to will the icicles to attack me instead, but I held them back. It was my control versus his. I started to sweat despite the cold mountain air. A powerful headache hit me, and I was forced down to my knees by Neroh's sheer power. No way was he human.

I still held him off. Neroh was glaring, and increased his push. The ice shards inched closer to me, until they were inches from my face. My dad was in the cave lying on the floor. He was breathing heavily, eyes closed. I wanted to call for help, but I couldn't open my mouth.

The tips of the shards touched my skin, and I closed my eyes, still trying to hold them back. A burning sensation came onto my right shoulder. It was the most painful thing I'd ever felt, and yet…it was an enjoyable kind of pain. Like when Alex slammed me into a wall when we sparred that one time. Except it hurt a lot more.

I felt the ice shards move away from my face. When I opened my eyes, they were moving towards Neroh, points first. I rose to my feet, pushing harder with my powers. The shards quivering in the air before flying at Neroh like missiles.

They penetrated straight through his chest, and trickles of golden ichor came from his three wounds. He was a god. I'd just overpowered a god. Neroh looked as shocked as me. Behind him, my dad slowly started to stand.

"What are you?" Neroh asked.

I looked at my shoulder, which still felt slightly on fire. Tattooed into the skin was the dark blue image of a trident. As the burning sensation left, a voice rang through my head. _Go with my blessing. _

Neroh spun and blocked my dad when he attacked again. I rushed forward and struck, and just like that Neroh was up against both of us at once. My dad and I worked in perfect sync, moving like one body. When he blocked, I slashed. When I moved, he moved with me.

Neroh took a slash at my legs and I jumped to avoid it. My dad attacked while I was in the air, forcing Neroh to shift his guard to him. Just as I started to fall, I kicked Neroh in the chest. While he stumbled back, my dad hilt slammed him across the face.

I landed and slashed across Neroh's chest. Neroh growled as he staggered away from us. Both me and my dad stood ready, but bit by bit Neroh began to evaporate.

"Another day Jacksons," he promised. "Another day…"

_Yeah that's right! Get your immortal butt outta my face before I slice it up! Go on! Get!_

"We'll get him next time dad," I told him.

He nodded. "Nice work son."

_Hey, pops and junior? Stop the evil idiots ring a bell?_

"Dad we have to catch up with the others," I reminded him.

"You're not going in alone," a voice assured us.

Dad and I turned to the voice. Riding on pegasai were the few senior demigods who weren't here yet. Travis Stoll, Katie Gardner, Clarisse and Chris Rodriguez. I'd read about them in the camp archives, but to see them in person…they were the most powerful half-bloods of the past generation. Impressive was an understatement.

Chris jumped off his pegasus and drew one of his revolvers. "You really think we'd let you have all the fun?"

"Point us at the bad guys," Travis said as he drew his swords.

Dad smiled, and I could see the nostalgia on his face. I wondered if I'd live to see the day when fighting alongside my friends made me nostalgic. We ran into the cave, and I knew I was about to find out.

Alex's POV

The five of us hid in the shadows following the twenty-something members of The Pit through the cave, with Evan Nakamura leading them and carrying the replica of Kronos's scythe.

Aunt Annabeth gave us the signal, and we moved in. Dad vanished into the shadows before creeping up behind a Pit member. He clamped his hands over his face, covering the mouth and nose. The grey armored girl struggled for a few seconds, even letting out muffled screams, but then she got real quiet.

Mom slipped behind another and bashed a guy in the neck with the edge of her shield, and he went down. She dragged the body back into the shadows, all without making a noise.

I jumped onto a guy's shoulders and shadow traveled us into the shadows of the cave. With one jerk and a _snap _that would haunt my dreams tonight, he went down. I'm still new to this killing thing.

One girl suddenly stopped walking, and collapsed into invisible arms. The body was dragged away.

Han snuck up behind another member of The Pit and jumped into the air, kicking with both hooves. The guy went down. This was easier than I thought. But I forgot that certain demigods have certain abilities. Like the ability to sense death. An armored figure turned and looked me right in the eye.

"They're here!" he shouted.

The Pit turned on us and charged. I found myself backed against the cave wall by four guys, all with amazing sword skills. I blocked one and got cut by another. It went on like that, I fell to the ground, and I knew that in seconds I would die.

That's when a huge tree root shot out of the cave wall, pinning my opponents to the ground. I heard screams of pain and turned in time to see someone wielding two swords and tearing into The Pit's ranks. The crack of a gunshot echoed through the cave, and another grey body fell dead.

"Welcome to modern warfare a**holes!" a voice shouted as another gunshot went off. I looked to see another guy, holding two gleaming revolvers

A member of The Pit blocked the bullet with his shield and laughed. "You call that modern Rodriguez? Get a real gun and then we'll talk."

Rodriguez fired both guns at once, killing the one who'd called him out. "Children of Ares…not the brightest bunch."

"Excuse me!" a girl with a crackling red spear yelled as she took out another member of The Pit.

"Nothing dear!"

I caught sight of Evan retreating.

"Alice, Helen, you're with me!" he shouted as he took off.

Two girls followed him. I gritted my teeth and stood up. I wasn't going to let him get away. Not after all I'd been through.

"Come back here coward!" I shouted and took off after him.

"Alex!" a voice called after me.

I kept running until I was close enough to see Evan, Alice, and Helen. I aimed my sword, and black lightning arced out from it. It struck Evan's hand, and the scythe flew from his hand.

One of the girls turned into a tiger, and the other's hands glowed with bright blue flames. Evan raised his scorched hand.

"Ladies, go on ahead, I'll take care of this," he said with a smile.

The tiger turned back into a girl, and she picked up the scythe. Both of them took off, and I was left alone with Evan. He smiled at me. I glared back.

"Alex, Alex, Alex…it's been a while hasn't it?" he asked.

"What are you talking about?" I asked as I adjusted my grip on my sword.

"You don't remember? You were young but I figured anyone would remember that," Evan said sympathetically.

"What do you mean? What don't I remember?" I asked, confusion and panic lining my voice ever so slightly.

"Must've been a memory wipe," Evan mused. "You remember don't you? You were there. I was there…"

For some reason, his words stirred my brain up. I could feel the memories trying to claw their way out, but…gods it hurt. I dropped my sword and fell to my knees. I held my head in pain as memories forced their way out in bits and pieces.

Evan…my dad was bleeding…the muscle man was carrying me…Neroh didn't fight them…Jacob was supposed to be a girl…

"Ah!" I screamed and curled into the fetal position. The pain of the memories was so bad, I didn't care that Evan was unsheathing his sword. As he raised the sword, I felt my mind practically snap, and the memories came flooding back in their entirety. The pain left, but it was replaced by the pain of a sword sinking into stomach.

I cried out, and Evan ripped his sword out and kicked me across the floor. Pain exploded in my shoulder. Another cut. Another. He lifted me up by the throat and hilt-slammed me back to the ground.

"Finish it," my weak voice begged. Evan raised his sword as high as he could and brought it down hard.

"NO!" an angel's voice screamed.

_**Cliffy! Before you assume Alex will survive, remember that I killed ANNABETH. And Percy. And I've severely wounded a bunch of other peeps. Will Alex survive? Will the others stop Alice and Helen in time? Can you people handle another week of waiting? Will anyone read my Ironman fic? Or my Marvel/DC one? {Hint hin ;) ;) } And does anyone know what I should do about 002? I mean she's gone time traveler on me! **_


	15. Jacob's Battles

_**003: What are you guys doing here? *checks calendar* Holy shank! It's Friday already? I haven't even started!**_

_**002: Hey! I just wanted to say thanks for letting me be a time traveler and those lessons, so I went to the future and got you this!**_

_**003: This is the next chapter…that's convenient. Thanks!**_

Jacob's POV

I blocked a sword aimed for my head before countering, taking out my sixth baddie so far. I ended up back to back with my mom. We fought off twelve guys, holding them back.

"Where's Alex?" I asked.

"She went…" my mom paused to kick a guy in the groin before punching his helmet clean off. "…through that tunnel. She's after Evan and two of his escorts."

_Damsel in distress Hero! Get to work._

"God no…" I whispered before jumping clear over the guys circling us and taking off down the same path Alex had taken. I ran as fast as I could until I came around a bend and my heart almost stopped. Alex was on the ground, a bunch of bad cuts and scrapes covering her. Standing over her was Evan Nakamura, sword raised.

"Finish it…" I heard her beg.

He brought the sword down as hard as he could.

"NO!" I screamed and pointed my sword. Water I collected earlier shot out of the Oceanic sapphire tip at the force of a fire house. Evan was hit just before his blade connected with Alex's face. He slammed into the cave wall with a grunt, and I ran to Alex's side, clicking Miz back into a pen.

"Hey," Alex whispered weakly.

I wanted to tell her everything would be fine, but all that came out was, "Hey."

"Am I interrupting something?" a voice asked.

I looked back to Evan, who was standing up again, unfortunately alright. A low growl escaped my throat as I stood up. Evan slowly picked his sword off the ground. I clicked Miz back to life.

_It's on now!_

"You're not walking away from this," I told Evan deadpan.

"If Alice and Helen do their jobs, neither will you," Evan assured me.

_Don't rush into this kid. You'll get your ass kicked. _

"Athena always has a plan," I told Miz before charging forward.

Evan swung, and I jumped clear over him. I landed behind him and kicked backward without even bothering to turn around. Evan stumbled forward, giving me time to turn around.

We both went for a downward stroke at the same time, and our blades crashed together loud enough for it to echo. Our blades locked, and it was suddenly all about strength. I pushed with everything I had, but he's twenty, and I'm ten. Needless to say I was overpowered and shoved backward.

Evan slashed, opening a bad cut on my leg. I scrunched forward in pain, but he cut me across the face and I fell to the ground, Miz clattering just out of reach. I kicked with my good leg, hitting him in the groin. While he was stunned, I scrambled for my sword. I grabbed Miz and turned around with just enough time to block Evan's next strike.

_Now would be a good time for that plan you supposedly have!_

"Just…need…an opening," I mentally assured. Even in my head I was talking through clenched teeth.

I rolled to the side, letting Evan's blade hit the floor. I ran with Evan close behind, putting distance between us and Alex's motionless body. I parried one of his attacks as he ran, sending sparks into the air. A bunch hit his eye patch, and by sheer luck the thing caught fire. That provided the opening I'd needed. While he was distracted, I grabbed his sword hand, the left, with my free hand and chopped down with my weapon.

Evan's hand fell to the floor, still clutching his sword. He roared in agony, and I emptied the rest of the water stored in Miz, shoving Evan against the cave wall and freezing him to it. With the fight over, Miz shrank down into a pen again.

Evan grimaced in pain, but managed to look me in the eye as he spoke. "Th-think you've won? Urunos is probably free by now. You'll be beaten, even if…even if I'm not the one to deliver the final blow."

I looked to Alex. I couldn't leave her here with Evan, even if he was disarmed and restrained. With as much strength as my demigod ten year-old body had, I lifted her up and carried her with me. All I can say is, either I need to get stronger, or she needs to lose weight. I thought I was going to drop her when we came up on two girls, Evan's age, maybe a little older, standing in front of a rock that sealed off the rest of the cave. I crouched into the shadows and watched what they were doing. Written on the rock seal were words… 

_From the scythe he was imprisoned, and from the scythe he shall be freed._

One of the girls, the younger one, had a scythe in her hand. The other was unarmed. Next to me, Alex stirred. I looked. She opened her eyes with difficulty, and gave me a weak smile.

"Sh," I warned her as quietly as possible. "I've got Evan's two friends in my sights."

"Where's everyone else?" Alex whispered.

"Still fighting probably," I said. "We're on our own. And you're in no condition to fight."

"I can handle it," Alex insisted, even as she winced trying to sit up.

"Just stay here, I'll handle this," I ordered. I clicked Miz back into action and started to creep towards the two girls, but I was stopped by Alex.

"At least take this," she said, handing me her black lightning bolt necklace. I took the necklace and spun it just like I'd seen her do. It expanded and transformed into Alex's Stygian iron sword.

_Isn't that cute? Now come on we've got a world to save!_

Now armed with two swords, I went off after the girls from The Pit. The one with the scythe was examining the seal closely, but the other one was just looking impatient. She was the one that spotted me.

"Heads up Helen we've got company," the girl warned.

The one with the scythe, Helen, looked my way. "Just keep him busy Alice, I'll get this open."

Alice nodded and turned toward me again. I readied both swords.

"Just give up now, and I won't kill you," I promised.

_I might though._

"How nice of you," Alice laughed. "Tell you what? I'll give you a quick death!"

She jumped forward, turning into a snake as she flew through the air. What is it with The Pit and snakes? I batted the snake aside, and it landed in a coil on the ground before turning into a she bear. It roared and came forward claws first. I blocked her first swipe with Miz and forced her back with a swing from Alex's sword.

Alice the bear roared in anger before turning into and eagle and flying as high as the cave ceiling would let her before coming down talons first. The talons sank into my shoulder, and I cried out in pain. Using my good arm–my right–I slashed and gave te bird a bad cut on its wing. It fell to the ground before turning back into Alice. She had a cut on her forearm.

I rolled my left shoulder, getting used to the pain. Alice turned into a deer with massive antlers. I gulped as it came charged me, but crossed my two swords in an X and blocked the attack before severing both horns. Again Alice reverted to her human form, holding her head.

"Give up yet?" I panted.

"Not on your life Hybrid," Alice snarled as she turned into a tiger.

She jumped forward, knocking me to the ground and causing me to drop both swords. I dodged the first claw swipe aimed for my head and the second, but the third nicked me on the side of the eyebrow. By nicked I mean a trickle of blood was now running down the side of my head.

Alice's gapping maw of teeth lunged forward, aimed at my neck.

Alex's POV

I sat there helplessly losing blood and forced to watch Jacob take on some girl that kept turning into animals. He did okay at first, but pretty soon he was pinned down by a tiger, and I knew he'd be dead I seconds. Normally, I needed my sword or open sky to do this, but if I put enough effort into it…

I black lightning bolt shot out of my hand, hitting the tiger and scorching its fur. It rolled away from Jacob as it turned back into a human woman. She was clutching her side in pain.

"We're even," I murmured to myself.

Jacob's POV

Just before the teeth sank into my throat, Alice was blasted off of me by a black lightning bolt. My head whipped to Alex, whose hand was still faintly crackling of electricity.

"We're even," I muttered to myself as I grabbed both of my fallen weapons and stood up.

Alice slowly stood up, clearly hurt. I got back into a fighting stance, waiting for the attack that never came. Alice collapsed, panting hard. I lowered my swords and turned to the only one left: Helen.

She looked frantically between me, the scythe, and the rock seal. She gripped the scythe in both hands and swung, but not at me. She took a slice out of the seal, and golden light glowed from the cut in the rock. Not only that, a golden, glittering smoke seeped out too.

Helen took another swing, and the rock exploded, knocking me and Helen onto the ground. Where the rock had been, there was now only a blindingly bright tunnel of light with that same golden smoke billowing out near the ground. Helen was up first and ran in. I groaned and stood up, hearing footsteps from behind. I turned, expecting a fight.

_**003: Would you look at that. A cliffhanger. Did NOT see that coming.**_

_**1136: I did.**_

_**002: Yeah it's kind a what you're known for. Frankly I'm getting tired of it.**_

_**1136: Same here.**_

_**003: ALRIGHT FINE! Yeesh. You don't want a cliffhanger, I won't put one.**_

Instead, all that came around the corner were my parents, Han, Alex's parents, and the other senior demigods.

Han ran to Alex, followed closely by her parents.

"Hey guys, what took you?" she joked.

"Alexandria di Angelo, what happened to you?" Thalia cried.

"Mom!" Alex rolled her eyes. "It's nothing. Fights happen."

Her dad groaned. "I swear she gets this from you."

_Ah family moments. Everything seems so perfect…EXCEPT WE STILL HAVE TO STOP HELEN FROM ENDING THE UNIVERSE!_

I hate it when my sword right.

_**003: There. HAPPY?**_


	16. Urunos: Free!

_**1136: Hey guys. 002 and 003 went to the Golden Age of Rome for reasons I frankly don't want to know, so I'm taking control of this one. And since I was threatened with death by educational television by 003, there will be a cliffhanger. *dodges thrown brick* Hey don't shoot the messenger!**_

"Save the reunion for later guys," my dad told the di Angelo's. "Helen's this close to freeing Urunos. We need to move now!"

The eight of them all moved toward the tunnel of light, with me close behind, but my mom stopped me.

"Stay here with your friends Jacob," she told me sternly. "We'll handle whatever Helen throws at us."

"I can help," I insisted.

She gave me the mom look. "Jacob…"

_Oh, and round one goes to mom._

"Fine…"

She patted my shoulder. "We'll be back as soon as we can okay? Then we'll sort all of this out."

She entered the light along with the others, and I was left with Han and Alex. I sighed and walked over to them, turning Alex's sword back into a necklace as I went. I tried to hand it to her, but she held her hand out to stop me.

"Don't give it back just yet," she told me. "You might need it against Helen."

"I'm going in?" I asked, confused.

Alex sat up as best as she could. "If you don't I will."

I stood up. "You're not going anywhere. I'll go."

Alex smirked. "That's what I thought. Now hurry up before our parents hog all the action."

I nodded and started off for the entrance to Urunos's prison, took a deep breath, and jumped in. At first I was engulfed in white light, but it quickly turned to pitch black, and then finally it solidified and I could see my surroundings.

The ground beneath my feet felt hard and solid, like marble, but I couldn't see it because the heavy golden smoke curled around my legs up to the mid point of my shin. Above was even weirder. A black starry night sky, and yet it was still clear as day.

That's when Clarisse crashed into me and sent us both toppling to the ground. She grunted and got off of me, yelling at me to quit standing around and get in the fight, but she didn't even look at me.

_Wow, NOBODY notices you hotshot._

"Shut it," I muttered as I hauled myself up and surveyed the battle field. The smoke covered ground extended as far as I could see, but what caught my attention were three huge columns of the same smoke that were vaguely shaped to look like a bull, and snake, and a Hydra. Standing in the middle of the three giants was Helen, laughing.

"I don't even have to fight you losers. My new friends will take you down while get what I came for," she told us, or rather the elite demigods, because she hadn't noticed me.

The three giant shapes in the smoke solidified into real giant beasts, and they charged on the offensive.

"Scatter!" my mom yelled, and the others obeyed.

I ran forward as fast as I could, but not to the fight. I was running after Helen, the whole reason I was here. But of course the fight had to come to me, when the bull was forced into my path. Currently fighting it were Travis, Chris, and my dad. Chris dove out of the way of the bull's charge, and Travis hacked away at its hind legs with his twin swords. Dad launched himself into the air, landing on top of the bull and stabbing down with Riptide. The sword sank in all the way to the hilt, and the bull exploded in a flash off light, sending everybody near it–including me–flying backward.

As the three got up, my dad noticed me. "Jacob?"

"Gotta go!" I yelled, speeding as far away from that grounding as I could get. I'd lost sight of Helen in the explosion, but now I had another problem. My mom was solo fighting the Hydra, and losing.

I jumped forward, spinning as I came. I slashed off one, two, three, then four Hydra heads before I even hit the ground.

_Wait!_

Ignoring Miz, I sliced off the last head and the body crumpled to the floor. I cheered at my easy win.

_Idiot!_

"Jacob! Did they teach you nothing at camp?" my mom asked, annoyed and scared.

"What?" I groaned. "I won didn't I?"

_That's what we're trying to tell you Smart One! What happens when you cut off one Hydra head?_

I remembered the story now. "Oh snap…"

I slowly turned around as ten fresh Hydra heads grew out of the stumps of the necks. I wanted to curse, but my mom was right there, so I settled for screaming and rolling out of the way of a snapping jaw. My mom jumped on top of a head, running down the length of its neck before jumping down to the ground behind it. I threw Miz, and he embedded himself in one head's eye. As the monster roared, he turned into a pen again and fell back down towards me.

I jumped caught the pen, and clicked it back into action. Two Hydra heads came at me at once, but I jumped backward far enough to dodge. While it was busy with me, it failed to notice my mom until she stabbed it from behind. I'm not sure what she stabbed, but the Hydra practically screamed before crashing to the ground.

"Nice!" I cheered.

The fight wasn't over, as we were so clearly reminded by the giant snake that nearly crushed us as it crashed to the ground. Clarisse yelled as she jumped on top of it and stabbed down so hard she broke her spear. An explosion of magic shot out as the spear was destroyed, and it killed the snake easily.

"Have you considered _not _breaking your spear in every battle?" Chris asked as he and the others walked up.

Clarisse blew some of her hair out of her face. "No."

"You all survived? I'm impressed," a voice teased.

The eight of us spun to face Helen, who was now standing in plain view of us. Thalia fired a lightning bolt form her spear, but it was deflected off an invisible shield. The air seemed to ripple, as if the lightning had struck invisible Jell-o. A figure materialized. Tall, seven feet at least. He had long grey hair that fell over his eyes, and a weird combination of a surgical mask and a muzzle covered his mouth. His armor looked similar to Greek battle armor, but older somehow. Chains hung on his body, and his skin…it was like a patchwork of all kinds of skin. There was dead, decaying patches, black patches, white patches, patches that looked so young and alive they had to have come form a baby.

The smoke that had swirled around the floor of the room suddenly drained into his hands, revealing a cold marble floor underneath. With all the smoke…no it was energy. He just absorbed all of it. His entire body glowed with an eerie red aura. He was Urunos.

"Why is he like that?" I whispered.

_He should've faded a long time ago. Somehow, he's managed to hold on, but from what I can tell its cost him his sanity. Helen brought him back enough for him to finish the job sort of. Think of him as an undead, insane, extremely powerful god._

"Crap."

The eight of us stood, weapons ready. Urunos clapped his hands together once, and a red shockwave went out. It knocked us all on our butts, and when we tried to get up we found we couldn't.

Helen laughed, but she soon found out Urunos wasn't done. He turned toward her before raising his hand and sending a brilliantly bright jet of flame in her direction. She was hit dead in the chest, and she fell to the ground, writhing in pain.

Urunos strode out of his former prison, back into the real world. Helen had had just unleashed Urunos, and there was nothing we could do to stop him. I tried in vain to raise my arm at least, but it felt like it weighed a zillion tons. The others were straining to stand too, but without luck. What's worse, the invisible force that was holding us down...was starting to crush us.

_**003: Haza for cliffies! I'll see you all next week, where a VERY unlikely group of heroes get Urunos under control. Bye!**_


	17. Urunos: Down

_**003: What's the happs? For the record, I'm awesome. Guess what? The entire rise of Urunos Trilogy has been planned, now I just have to write it! Celebrate on your own time though, because you've got a chapter to R & R. See ya next week.**_

Alex's POV

"They've been in there too long," I complained. "We have to help them."

"Alex, for the billionth time, you can't even stand, much less fight," Han groaned.

A hand emerged from the entrance, but not any hand I recognized. It was followed by a muscular arm, and the skin was like a patchwork of skin, held together with thick stitches. The full body came out, revealing what I can basically describe as an ugly old man with patchwork skin.

The thing let out some kind of cross between a growl and a pant, before walking past us with intent on reaching the exit. Han cowered in fear behind me, nervously eating his shirt.

Across from us, Alice stirred on the cave floor and just caught sight of the man walking away. Her eyes went wide and she struggled to stand for a second before rising to her feet. Han and I both closed our eyes and played possum, hoping Alice wouldn't kill us. To our relief, we heard here run off away from us, and when we opened our eyes she was gone.

Han gulped. "If that was who I think it was, we're all dead."

I got the message. "Urunos. That's it I'm going after the others. Help me walk."

Han sighed and helped me to my feet, then supported me as we walked into the tunnel of light.

Jacob's POV

It felt like a trillion pound flat iron was slowly pressing its full weight on me. My chest threatened to cave in, it was hard to breathe. I could barely lift a finger. Sweat was pouring from me, soaking my clothes.

_Alright Smart One, you've got one chance. You can control water right?_

"Right," I thought back.

_And the human body is mostly water right?_

"Get to the point Miz."

_Transform your body into water. And do it fast!_

"How?"

_Figure it out!_

I concentrated, but all that happened was more sweating. At least that's what I thought. But soon I was coated in a thin layer of water, and after that I could see through myself. Before I knew it, I exploded like a water balloon and formed into a puddle. I could still feel the weight, but I could move around now.

Gliding along the ground, I picked up the others in my current and carried them towards the exit. It was hard to push that many adult bodies with only ninety something pounds of water, but I managed.

I got then all out, putting up intense pressure to push them out of this death trap, but things got bad as soon as Travis, the last one, made it out. My body couldn't handle being spread so thin, and the water recollected and transformed back into my human body. Once again I could feel the crushing force on my chest, and now I couldn't move. I was so close…the exit was less then a millimeter from my fingertips.

At least I got the others out. They could still save the world. We weren't done yet, even if I was. A few of my weaker bones started to crack. This was it.

_This is how it ends. Been one hell of a ride kid. See ya on the other side._

I was about to tell Miz he was a sword and couldn't die, but at that moment two figures entered through the tunnel of light, one of them was leaning heavily on the other. It took me a second to recognize them as Alex and Han. I only wondered why they weren't being crushed for half a second, because I realized Urunos had only tried to crush the people near him.

"Jacob!" Alex cried. "You okay?"

All I managed was a strained groan of pain.

"Han, help him up," Alex ordered.

Han glared at her. "Right. And you?"

Alex remembered she was in no condition to walk on her own. But that didn't stop her. "I'll crawl. Just get him."

Han dropped her. I mean literally dropped her right on top of me. I might've blushed, but since she landed on me already breaking ribs, I just cried out in pain again. She told me she was sorry and rolled off of me. Han tried to lift me, but couldn't even get my arm off the ground. He yanked hard, slowly sliding me across the floor. All too slowly, I could feel my cracked ribs about to break.

Finally, we got through the tunnel of light and the pressure on me let up. But not before my ribs broke. I screamed in pain, which only pressed my lungs against my jagged ribs and caused more pain, which made scream more, which made my lungs press harder into my jagged lungs, etc. etc. etc. until Alex, who was crawling next to me, punched me so hard in the face I went unconscious.

Evan's POV

I wrapped my arm stub in a torn piece of my shirt and did everything I could to ignore the pain as I leaned against the cave wall, surround b dead bodies of other Pit members. The thin air didn't make anything better.

That's when I got the call.

"Evan, we have a problem."

"The Athena kids were right weren't they?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"They were," Alice said. "Urunos is out of his immortal mind, and I give it about and hour until he blows existence into nothing."

"Anyway we can just direct him at Olympus?" I asked hopefully.

Alice's end of the line was silent for a second before she answered. "Not a chance. We need to get him under control now."

"Alice, I'm literally disarmed, I'm cold, we've lost," I sighed.

A huge bird flew through the cave before turning into Alice and punching me across the face. "Get a hold of yourself man, the whole world's about to end! No world, means no us! Now get up off your ass and let's go!"

I groaned. "You and me, Alice? Against a god? We don't stand a chance."

"How about the three of us?" another voice asked.

I turned to see Helen, holding her sides and a weak look on her face. We still didn't stand a chance, but what the Hades? We had nothing to lose. I stood up, cracked my back, and Alice teleported us off.

The next thing I was aware of, we were standing on a snowy mountain peak freezing our asses off. That's when a white hot trail of flame tore through the ground near us, and a glowing red Urunos hovered toward us. With a snap of Helen's fingers, all three of us were holding razor sharp swords. I swear that is the most convenient thing ever.

Alice didn't use swords, so she tossed hers to me. I instinctively reached my left arm out to catch it, but I didn't have a left hand anymore. Alice apologized, and Helen took the second sword.

Urunos stopped and hovered a few feet in front of us. His red aura exploded in a shockwave, knocking us all back. Alice jumped forward, morphed into polar bear, and tried to bite Urunos's head off, but she was sent flying with a faster-than-I-could-catch-punch. Helen's sword glowed bright blue before she hurled them both at Urunos. They tore into him, leaving two big gaping wounds. Black blood poured out of them, but Urunos didn't flinch.

Threads, like the ones that stitched his patches of skin together, darted back and forth across the wounds, pulling them shut and healing them. Not fair. His chest turned pitch black and started to spin, and I felt myself literally being sucked towards him. That bastard had a black whole on his chest!

I stabbed my sword into the ice, trying to not get sucked in. Helen focused what little energy she had left into a single burst of bright blue flame. It hit Urunos in the chest, and for the first time he reacted to one of our attacks.

A weird, dry, and high-pitched shriek of pain came from him, and he stumbled back, the black hole gone. I jumped forward and slashed, almost cutting his arm off. The threads stitched the arm back into place, but it slowed him down.

Helen, who looked like she was about to pass out, uttered one last word before collapsing in the snow.

"Κατάσταση νάρκης."

Urunos's red aura dimmed until it was barely there, and he too collapsed into the snow. I yelled in exhaustion, too tired to be happy. I fell to my knees, and just sat there. And eagle, lightly covered in snow from all the flying it had done, flew next to me before morphing back into a shivering Alice.

"We won?"

I nodded. "For now. We need to get him contained until we can control him. Call Neroh back at base."

_**Didn't think THEY'D be the ones to save us would ya? Destroying Olympus is one thing, but existence itself? Even The Pit won't let that happen. This story is far from over though, so tune in next time to watch Jacob get his a** kicked…...again!**_


	18. Backstabber!

_**Yeah yeah I'm late. Sue me. Just kidding don't do that…that would be bad with a capital Q.**_

_Two weeks later…_

Jacob's POV

I sat at the top of the climbing wall, looking out over camp, feeling like a total loser. I'd gotten my butt kicked, my parents hadn't done any better, and now the Pit had Urunos. We'd officially lost.

I was so busy wallowing in self-pity, I didn't notice Alex climb up to the top alongside me and until she said, "Hey."

I blinked and came back to the present. "Hey."

"You know you've been up here for like half an hour?" she asked me. "The Ares cabin was throwing rocks at you and you didn't even move."

"I will get them for that," I promised with a laugh.

"So what's up?" Alex asked. "Besides us."

I gave a short laugh to that. "Trying to avoid chores. I'm on stable cleaning duty."

Alex nodded. "You know, I might believe that…except _I _just finished cleaning the stables."

I cursed under my breath. Maybe I could fool everybody else, but Alex was…Alex. I couldn't get anything past her. I sighed and focused on the beach off in the distance.

"So why are you really up here? Still moping around about Urunos?" Alex guessed.

"…you can read minds?" I asked.

Alex laughed. "Nope. Just you Smart One."

"Terrific," I grumbled. "But yeah, still moping. How can't I? If the Pit gets Urunos under control, we all die. And we weren't even good enough to stop them now. What chance do we have once they get control of a god?"

"They'll get better," Alex said. "But so will we. And when the time comes, we'll be ready."

I smiled. "I guess you're right."

"I know I'm right," Alex told me. "Bye."

"Wait bye?"

That's when she shoved me off the top of the climbing wall. It's a _long_ way down. It only got worse when I finally crawled out of the mini crater I'd made.

"By the way," I heard. "I was kidding about the stables. They're all yours!"

"Oh come on!"

_Later that day…_

"Sup Jacob," Brian greeted. "Up for a little hunting trip in the woods?"

I wasn't doing anything, and Alex was taking a nap in the cabin, so my schedule was open. I told him I was up for it. Big mistake.

We were in the woods, about four-hundred meters from the creek, when he made his move. Not in a gay kind of way, he– oh never mind, just read and find out!

"Still bummed about Urunos?" Brian asked.

I shrugged. "A little, I guess."

He patted my shoulder, the last pat stinging a little. "Hey don't sweat it buddy. You've got no need to worry about it."

"Why not?" I asked, for some reason starting to sweat.

Brian clicked one of his shafts, and it turned into a javelin. My shoulder was really aching now, and I coughed. I was feeling pretty uncomfortable in my own skin right now, but I was more worried about why Brian had taken out a javelin when there wasn't a monster in sight.

"Because I don't think you'll be alive to see our final victory," he said deadpan.

"You're talking about the camp's victory right?" I asked, even though I knew he wasn't. I was feeling cold now, on top of everything else.

Brian shook his head. "Afraid not. Nothing personal Jake, but you're the camp's best hope for survival right now. And this camp can't survive."

I looked to my shoulder and saw a very small puncture wound. Brian smiled and showed me a small injector concealed in his palm.

"Gorgon blood," Brian explained. "You're lucky it's a small dose, or you'd already be dead."

"Lucky?" I coughed.

Weakly, I took out Miz and clicked him to life. Brian smiled. "Really think you stand a chance Jake?"

_I'm on his side and I don't think he stands a chance._

"I hate you," I thought back.

_That's nice. Block._

I swung like Miz's command was my own thought and deflected an incoming javelin. With a click of one of his shafts, Brian was now wielding a hammer. I ducked under the first swing, but the second caught me under the chin and knocked me to the ground. Brian raised his hammer to finish me, but a kick to his family jewels bought me enough time to scramble to the creek.

"Not getting away that easy Jacob!" I heard Brian yelled.

The next sensation I felt was a thrown hammer giving me a dead leg and brought me to the ground. I tried to stand, but the poison had taken its toll on me. I collapsed back to the ground, waiting for Brian to end it.

_Get your ass in gear kid! I wasn't made so you could die in the month. _

I think I responded something like this, "Mgrfi…triza…bug."

"Bye Jacob," Brian said. "On the bright side, you lasted longer than I thought you would."

"He's been practicing," a voice said, drawing Brian's attention.

I looked too, and I saw what at the moment looked like the most beautiful thing in existence: Alexandria di Angelo. She drew her sword faster than my poison-slowed eyes could track.

"And guess what? I'm even better than him."

"Debatable," I muttered.

_Yeah right. I recommend getting to the creek before you die._

Again, I hate it when my sword is right. Even so, while Alex and Brian were battling sword against hammer, I was crawling to the creek. I wouldn't make it the rate I was going. But I had an idea. My body became transparent, and I was a living being made of water. I could see through me, and I could see the poison traveling through me. Concentrating, I expelled every last drop of contaminated water, and what was left of me flowed into the creek, replenishing the water my body had lost until I was back to my original mass. I became solid again, now knee deep in the creek and on my hands and knees.

_Nice job. I believe you have a beautiful girl to help out._

"When did I _ever _say she was beautiful?" I asked.

_About ten seconds ago. I'm connected to your thoughts remember?_

"Curse you. And by the way, I was _dying_. My brain wasn't thinking straight."

_Uh-huh. You know something, I think–_

I clicked Miz back into a pen and ran forward without a sword. Stupid, I know, but I'd rather get cut up then listen to him run his mouth right now. Alex and Brian were still fighting, pretty much equals in skill. Alex had two advantage though: raw power, and the ten year-old Hybrid about to tackle Brian.

My arms were around his throat before he knew what hit him, and he dropped his weapon to try and pry me off. Alex swung, giving Brian a cut across the chest, before he threw me into her. We toppled to the ground, and Brian clicked his last shaft and tossed it towards us. At first I figured it would skewer us, but then it exploded, leaving a thick smoke I couldn't see squat through. Either Brian was planning a sneak attack, or he was running scared.

Alex coughed up some of the smoke before a quick wind swept through, clearing the area. Brian was gone.

"A spy," I grumbled. "Brian was a spy."

Alex shook her head. "I don't get it. Brian's been at camp for years. Why would he blow his cover now?"

"He wasn't going to blow his cover," I realized. "He was just going to kill me and then go back to playing innocent. Probably would've made my death look like an accident or thrown me in the Ant Hill. And no one would've known. So I'm wondering…how did _you _know?"

Alex shrugged. "I dunno…I kinda…well…it's not important right now. We need to tell Chiron that Brian was working for the Pit."

Alex's POV

Which was true, but it could've waited forty-five seconds. Jacob didn't need to know about my dream. Gods I'm glad it won't come true.

_**Alright, I think this is pretty much it for the story, maybe a couple more chapters. Good news bad news. The sequel, Jacob Jackson and the Shame of Olympus won't be up for a while, but the good news is it will be updated almost daily. Aren't compromises beautiful?**_

_**Next Chapter: Alex's Dream.**_


	19. Dare to Dream

_**You may THINK you know what Alex's dream is. And you might be partially right on your guess, but I can almost guarantee you didn't see this coming. Also, since the dream takes up the entire chapter, I'm not going to put it in italics. I know you're eyes are thanking me right now. Anyway, read, review, and don't kill me!**_

Alex's POV (Duh.)

I finally understand the Hermes kids. They see things they don't really need, and then they take it anyway. A nap was something I didn't really need, but took anyway. After talking with Jacob, I didn't really feel like doing anything else anyway. Wasn't hungry, I'd finished all my chores, and when you get to be as awesome as me, you don't need training. So I slept. And of course, dreams go hand in hand with sleep….

The sky was red. That was the first thing that hit me. The next was that the clouds were black. I was looking out over a ruined Olympus. The damage to it was unbelievable. Nothing, not even the Titans had ever brought this much ruin to the eternal city. Looking at the horrible chaos that was what was left of Olympus, the city didn't look so eternal. In fact, it looked like it had seen its final sunrise.

I saw a girl. She looked a lot like Roxanne, but she was older. She was sporting battle armor…more or less. Her armor had several dents, pieces had chipped off, there were gashes in it, her face had dried blood all over it. Her left leg was had been sliced off at the knee. Still, somehow, she was alive. All around her, though, there were bodies that weren't. Bodies of people I knew from camp. Henry, Han, Will…the names went on and on in my head as I looked over the bodies. One body I didn't see though, was Jacob.

Two figures were walking among the bodies, looking for any survivors. They wore gray battle armor, and had a glowing red aura around them. Roxanne did her best to play dead. The way she was, she might've pulled it off too. But one of the figures stepped on her throat, and she coughed.

"Hey, we missed one," the one who's stepped on her said.

"Just kill it," the other said. "Not much time for torturing right now. Urunos wants us in position soon."

"Alright…looks like you're in luck _hero_," the figure told Roxanne. "This will be quick…but it's still going to hurt like hell."

There was a _fwoosh _and a flash of bright red light, and the scene changed. I saw me, dressed in what was left of my armor and bleeding from several wounds. Walking away from my dying body I could just make out two figures. They weren't the ones who'd killed Roxanne though. In fact, after a bit I recognized them. Evan Nakamura and Urunos himself.

My bloody, beaten dream self crawled slowly to the two evil bastards, with a desperate look on her face. She had to know it was over. If it were me (and I mean _me _me, not dream me), I would've known it was time to give up. Maybe my dream self was desperate to die, so she wouldn't have to live as a failure.

Leaving a trail of blood, my dream self actually made it within arm's reach of Evan. I watched myself grab Evan's ankle, as if I could hold him back from destroying the world. Somehow I knew that's what Urunos and Evan were going to do. They were going to destroy everything.

Evan kicked my practically lifeless form in the face, sending me rolling across the floor. Next to him, Urunos laughed. Evan bent down next to me, a cruel smile on his face. He held his hand open, and a knife magically appeared in it.

"Oh Alex," Evan laughed. "Even you should've figured it out by now. You lost. The gods lost. The Titans lost. The mortals lost. Everybody lost. There will be no rebellion. There will be no savior. There will be no second chance. Why can't you simply accept defeat?"

I somehow found the strength to spit in Evan's good eye. His expression changed to one of disgust as he stood up, and he brought his boot down hard on my head. Everything went white, and the scene changed.

The dream had gone back in time, I could tell. In that first part, with the bodies and the blood, everything had been destroyed, the sky was blood red and the clouds had been black. This time, the sky was blue and the clouds were white, but there was no denying the hopeless feeling of defeat the dream was giving me.

I crawled out of the smoking wreckage of the van. The others who had been in the van with me hadn't gotten so lucky. I could even see the pale hand of one of the huntresses hanging from the van's window. I watched the single member of The Pit fly away, his aura glowing brightly as he laughed like a madman. I coughed and tasted blood. I didn't care. I needed to get away from the van before it–

The van exploded in a huge fireball, and my body was sent flying. I smacked hard into ground when I finally landed, which only served to brake a few bones and give me even more cuts.

I tried to push myself up into a sitting position, but my arms gave and I ended up laying on the side of the road, praying to every god and goddess that the others would find me.

I blacked out again, and instead of waking up to somebody finding me, the scene had gone back in time yet again.

I was fighting. Nearby, I could see two dead bodies who weren't my enemies. Rick and Tony. They'd done their best, but even they'd been killed. We'd never expected this much of an invasion force. I'd figured I could've held them off. I was wrong. And in a few seconds, I was probably going to be dead wrong.

There were four, maybe five members of the Pit crowded around me, and I was fighting with everything I had. I blocked a sword strike from one and dodged another even as a blade sunk into my thigh. I swung my sword in a wide arc. Slitting the throat of one Pit member and giving a second a cut on the arm before my sword was blocked. A spear point shot out of my stomach before being yanked back out of me. I fell to the floor on my hands and knees and immediately felt kick after kick hit me. With everything I could muster, I let out a cry of total agony and pain as a lighting bolt struck my exact position.

The group that had been beating me to death only seconds ago was fried in an instant and sent flying backward. I fell to the ground again, and slowly raised my head in the direction of Camp. All I saw was a smoking ruin. Bodies scattered here and there, a few moving, most not.

I collapsed, blacking out from pain, shock, and blood loss. The dream wasn't done with me yet.

"How long do we have?" Will asked.

Dax, the head counselor for the Athena cabin answered. "Not long. The infantry will be here in ten minutes. Five minutes later Urunos shows up, and then Camp Hlaf-Blood is reduced to ash."

"We can't let that happen," Roxanne stated firmly. I found it weird that she would be at a counselor meeting, she was the youngest child of Ares. That's when it hit me that she must be the only surviving child of Ares. "We can call for reinforcements, push them back. The Camp is our base of operations."

Ellen, counselor for Apollo, shook her head. "There are no reinforcements. Even the mortal forces are spread too thin to help us."

"Then we're all dead," Will groaned. "Chiron, evacuate the Camp. We may not be able to save this place but we can still save ourselves."

I spoke up. "Evacuation will take time. Somebody needs to hold the Pit at bay while everybody else makes a break for it."

"You can't possibly volunteer yourself Alex," Chiron said. "You're our most powerful camper, we can't risk losing you."

"I'm the only one who stands a chance of surviving that many enemies. We don't have another choice," I told them.

"You won't do it alone," Rick, son of Zeus, told me. "Me and Tony have your back."

Once again, the dream went back further in time.

Jacob's body was carried away, wrapped in his shroud. It was raining, and all of camp was gathered to watch his body be carried away.

"I should've been there," I told myself. "If I hadn't been so lazy, I could've saved him. But no, I took a gods damned _nap _and now he's dead."

The scene changed once again, this time to Jacob and Brian in the woods at camp.

"Still bummed about Urunos?" Brian asked.

Jacob shrugged. "A little, I guess."

Brian patted his shoulder. "Hey don't sweat it buddy. You've got no need to worry about it."

"Why not?" Jacob asked, for some reason starting to sweat.

Brian clicked one of his shafts, and it turned into a javelin. Jacob rolled his shoulder in discomfort and coughed.

"Because I don't think you'll be alive to see our final victory," he said deadpan.

"You're talking about the camp's victory right?" Jacob asked, despite how obvious it was that he wasn't.

Brian shook his head. "Afraid not. Nothing personal Jake, but you're the camp's best hope for survival right now. And this camp can't survive."

Jacob looked to my shoulder and saw a very small puncture wound. Brian smiled and showed him a small injector concealed in his palm.

"Gorgon blood," Brian explained. "You're lucky it's a small dose, or you'd already be dead."

"Lucky?" Jacob coughed.

Weakly, Jacob took out his sword and clicked it to life. Brian smiled. "Really think you stand a chance Jake?"

Jacob took one step forward, and Brian threw his javelin. The javelin went right through Jacob's head, and he fell to the floor, dead.

"Jacob!" I screamed, waking up. Gods, that was…about to happen! My dream self had mentioned a nap, and in the dream Brian killed Jacob in the woods. I had to get there before it was too late.

_**And we all know what happened after that. In case you didn't know, Alex's dream is what would've happen if Jacob had died that day. But he didn't so now the future could be anything! Yeah, all that's left is the Olympus POV epilogue, then I disappear! So read, review, etc.**_


	20. Up on Olympus

_**The final chapter of Sins of the Fathers. The Olympians have their own opinion about how things are going, and I suggest it's time we heard it. **_

Olympus POV

"Well…that could've gone a lot better," Hades grumbled. "Or did The Pit free Typhon when I wasn't looking?"

"Can it Corpse Breath," Ares told him. "You know, if one of my children had gone on the quest instead of your grandkid, Urunos would still be imprisoned."

"Oh sure," Poseidon laughed. "Considering your strongest child lost to Jacob. You know, your kids have a habit of getting their butts whipped by children of the prophecy."

"You wanna go Barnacle Beard?" Ares growled.

"Silence!" Zeus ordered. All the gods quieted down. "Can't we get through _one _meeting without trying to kill each other? Just ONE?"

"Zeus is right," Athena said. "We can sit here arguing like we've done for millennia, which has only served to distract and weaken us, or we can figure out what to do about Urunos."

"Cower in fear?" Aphrodite suggested.

"No!" several of the gods groaned.

"Okay just thought I'd make a suggestion," the love goddess mumbled.

"What chance do we stand against Urunos in a fight?" Hephaestus asked.

"I'm not sure," Athena admitted. "We've never really _had _to fight him. Kronos single-handedly defeated him, so that gives us some form of reference."

"Then we attack?" Ares asked.

Athena shook her head. "No. The fact still remains that Urunos does not yet pose a threat. The Pit will not risk his release until they can restructure his mind, and that will take time."

Apollo tensed. "Hey guys, we've got a bigger problem. You know our child of the prophecy? He's about to _die_, and nothing good will happen if he does."

The news sent the gods into an uproar, and ideas on how to save Jacob went this way and that, but all of them involved direct interference, which was forbidden.

"Is there someone who can help him?" Poseidon asked.

Hades, who had been staring off into space the entire time, suddenly snapped his fingers. "Check on Alex."

As if on command, and Iris message appeared in the center of the throne room and an image of Alex di Angelo appeared, sound asleep in her cabin.

"She's asleep, what good can she do?" Poseidon asked.

Hades was confident though. "I think you're all forgetting what happens when demigods sleep. They dream."

"So?" Hermes asked, but some of the other gods were starting to get it.

"Even so, what if she doesn't wake up in time?" Athena asked.

Hades leaned back in his throne. "Three...two…one…"

"_Jacob!" Alex shouted, sitting up in bed._

Every jaw in the throne room dropped. Apollo laughed. "Is it that impressive when I do that?"

"No," Artemis told him. He glared back at his "little sis".

"We should check on The Pit," Hermes suggested. "Maybe with Neroh missing they won't be powerful enough to block the IM."

The Iris message shifted scenes with a wave of Zeus's hand.

_Evan tested his new left hand, made by the children of Hephaestus. It was made of solid celestial bronze, and on mental command the hand morphed into a spear point. With another thought it changed to a knife blade, and then back to a hand again._

_"This is gonna take getting used to," he grumbled to himself._

_"Look on the bright side," female voice said. "It's gonna be really fun to use it to kill that Hybrid."_

_Evan turned to Alice. "Yeah, it will. But don't underestimate Jacob. Ten years old and he managed to slip past my guard. He's only going to get stronger. I'm at my peak already, maybe I've already started to slip. We're really going to need Urunos if we're gonna pull this off."_

_Alice nodded. "About that. With Helen…gone, we need a new sorceress to fix Urunos's mind."_

_Evan agreed. "Any of the recruits strong enough for that?"_

_Alice shook her head. "Sadly no, but…we have a new volunteer. Turns out Neroh wasn't the _only _minor god not on the side of Olympus."_

_It was then that she walked in. True, she'd assumed a new form, but there was no mistaking Hecate, goddess of magic._

_"You really should upgrade your security," the goddess mused._

_"Oh?" Evan asked. "Why is that?"_

_"Turn around."_

_Evan and Alice both turned, now facing the IM directly. "What the?"_

_"Get rid of it!" Alice ordered, and Evan swiped through the IM with his new hand, severing the connection._

"Hecate…" Artemis said to herself. "With her around, I'm going to guess that's the last IM we'll be able to get to The Pit."

"This is _not _good," Apollo muttered.

Later…

"Do you always draw up battle plans when you're nervous?" Poseidon asked.

Athena spun away from her work and faced the Sea God. "So what if I do?"

Poseidon laughed for no apparent reason, which only served to annoy Athena. "What's so funny?"

"You didn't deny being nervous," Poseidon said, calming down.

Athena opened her mouth, but ended up just glaring at him. Poseidon took it. He was used to it. Hades, he even deserved it half the time.

"What are you doing here anyway?" Athena asked.

"I'm just saying bye to everyone before I return to the sea. I _was _going leave without talking to you, but Aphrodite said that would be rude so…"

"She threatened to make things awkward with Amphitrite didn't she?" Athena guessed.

"She was going to make me fall in love with a cactus!" Poseidon told her. "Can you imagine…ugh I don't want to think about it."

"Well," Athena said, "Say bye, and get out. Go on go. _Goodbye._"

Poseidon rolled his eyes. "Can't we _ever _get along? I mean, if you hadn't notice, things go pretty well when Athena and Poseidon work together."

"The chariot doesn't count," Athena told him.

"How about Annabeth and Percy?" Poseidon asked. "That went pretty well. They saved the world, fulfilled a prophecy, got married–and he was _entirely _faithful contrary to your expectations."

"Two things" Athena grumbled.

"What about Jacob? A child with a blend of our powers could one day save the world…again. You know what is it this world? I mean we can't turn our backs to it for half a month without _something_ trying to destroy it."

"Poseidon?" Athena asked.

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

Jacob's POV

"I so saved your butt," Alex laughed.

"You did not!" I protested. "I was going to distract him with some sort of water thing and then uh…save myself and kick his sorry–"

"Jacob?" Alex interrupted.

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

_**And that's it for this story. I'll post the story awards soon, maybe tomorrow or day after, so look out for that. Also, how would you guys like it if I put up a story where you could interview Jacob and the other characters? I was thinking about doing something like that, just wanted to know your guys' opinion. Anyway, review and I'll see ya **_


	21. Preview

_**Did you miss me? Of course not…Anyway, Shame of Olympus is under way, but since I'm sure you're all either getting restless or even forgetting this trilogy exists, I thought I'd throw you guys a little torture er- preview, of my next story. Enjoy.**_

_They protect those who would seek to destroy them…_

The look of pained hatred returned as the man yelled, "It's _your _fault!"

A crowd was gathering, and Rae and I were suddenly boxed in.

"My cousin died on the bridge _you _sank hero!"

"You'll face charges from the New York Times for what you did to our office!"

"My children can't go to school anymore, because it was destroyed by _you_!"

The sea of complaints, accusations, insults, and the like flooded me. Some people who were close enough spat. Others threw shoes. And I just stood there and took it.

_There is nowhere safe for them…_

"That's Camp Half-Blood…" I gasped, as if just realizing it.

"Jake…"

"This…this can't be happening," I told myself.

_It is. Get over it. _Miz advised.

I watched as three figures, glowing red just as Brian had, rained down fire and energy on my home. Trees shattered into splinters, the roof of the Big House caught fire, the climbing wall toppled, crushing two campers underneath. And one very familiar, black clad female figure was struck dead in the chest by a blast on flame.

_Their enemy is stronger than ever…_

"The power of a god is at my command!" Brian laughed. "What chance do you have now Jake? I'll answer that for you. None."

Brian's hand glowed brighter and brighter until it ignited in a burst of flame. The flames shot out toward Jacob's dangling form, no doubt about to incinerate him.

_Their gods cannot protect them…_

Zeus struggled to his feet, breathing hard. Urunos flew back in front of the Lord of the Sky, glowing bright with his red aura and hovering above the crater Zeus was in. The King of the Gods was running out of tricks very quickly.

Zeus fired a blast of lightning powerful enough to turn a skyscraper to ash. Urunos batted it aside with his hand and aimed his other, sending a column of flame Zeus's way. Zeus formed a sphere of wind around him redirecting the fire away from him. Urunos extended his other hand, increasing the flame that poured out. Zeus struggled to keep the protective winds up.

_Their numbers are dwindling…_

"I…I'm fine," Alex assured me, clutching her chest in pain. "Where's…where's Chiron?"

"Chiron?" I asked, even more worried now.

"He was…he was clearing out the cabins, I lost sight of him…" Alex said, growing weaker with every word.

She fainted in my arms. I checked her pulse about five times to make sure it was just fainting. I set her down as gently as I could and after telling Rae to keep an eye on her, I sprinted for the cabins. Several were destroyed entirely, all were damaged. Three kids were surrounding the wreckage of the Hermes cabin, trying to lift it.

I stepped up to help them, and together we lifted the largest piece and shoved it aside. Underneath, the horse-man himself lay in a crumpled heap. I staggered back in shock.

"No…"

_Their families can't be trusted…_

"You brought back Kronos," I reminded him. "_Kronos._"

"We don't like this any more than you do," my dad tried to explain, but I wouldn't hear it.

"Yes you do," I spat. "If you didn't, you wouldn't have done it."

And I stormed out, slamming the door behind me. I didn't leave however. I stayed close enough to the door to listen to their reaction.

"He's right you know," Mom admitted.

My dad was silent. It thought he was going to stay that way, but before I left caught one more sentence from him.

"I know."

_Tensions are building…_

"Jacob…who is this?" Alex asked. I caught the slightest resent in her voice.

"Ah, right…" I began, feeling awkward. "Alex, this is Rae. I guess you could say we're…uh…"

"You're what Jacob?" Alex asked sternly.

_And if that weren't enough, guess who saves the day?_

"No…way…" Alex groaned.

"Well what do you know, the kid's good for something after all," Roxanne scoffed.

"Nice work," I congratulated.

_**That's it for now! Coming up, the story itself debuts, and everything goes from bad…to really bad. But in a good way! I hope you guys don't mind that this took the place of the story awards, those are way too hard.**_


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